Belbek Airfield Attack Destroyed Fighter Aircraft, Missile Systems and Fuel Dump

Further to a Kyiv Post report posted on Wednesday,  the Russian Telegram channel Astra said that on the night of May 14 / 15, Ukrainian missile attacks against a Russian air base and nearby military locations in occupied Crimea destroyed an S-400 “Triumf” air defense system, two MiG-31 fighters, and a fuel and lubricant depot. The ASTRA account said that two Russian soldiers were killed, and 14 others were injured.

According to its sources, ASTRA said the initial attack against the Belbek military airfield in Sevastopol destroyed the two enemy fighter jets, set the fuel and lubricant depot on fire and injured 11 Russian soldiers.

Shortly afterwards a second missile strike hit the S-400 air defense system, located near the village of Vyshneve, setting the surface to air missile (SAM) launcher on fire, killing two soldiers and injuring two others.

The Kyiv Post reached out for comment to Ukraine’s defense and security forces but have not receive a response at the time of publishing.

On Wednesday, the Moscow-appointed mayor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said that US-made ATACMS missiles had been used in the attack but claimed the strikes were unsuccessful with all missiles being intercepted by Russian air defenses. The statement added that the US-made precision weapons had scattered cluster munitions in the area and warned the public not to touch them.

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The military analysis platform OSINTechnical wrote: “Based on FIRMS (NASA’s fire information database), Ukraine conducted a successful ATACMS strike overnight on Russia’s Belbek Airbase. Multiple [satellite] passes show a massive fire encompassing the southern flightline, likely fed by burning fuel or munitions.”

In addition, on the night of May 15 / 16, the Ukrainian armed forces attacked the main artillery and missile depot of the Belbek military airfield.

The strike resulted in a series of prolonged detonations within the munitions storage area, causing significant damage to the airfield infrastructure.

The warehouse is believed to have housed the bulk of the bombs and missiles used by Russian Su-27, Su-30 and MiG-31 fighter-bombers for attacks on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure. Secondary explosions caused further destruction throughout the airfield.

According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, in the early morning hours of May 16, drones and missiles were intercepted over four Russian regions, with additional attacks targeting Crimea without indicating any level of success as usual.