Flaring Up, Burning: Russian Air Defence Misses Strike On Engels-2 Airport

Ukrainian "Lyuty" drones have hacked the enemy's defence.

On March 20, four Ukrainian aircraft-type drones arrived in Saratov region of the Russian Federation, at the Engels-2 strategic aviation airfield. The devices travelled 700 km without interference, after which they were allegedly shot down by air defence forces, the Russian Defence Ministry said. Meanwhile, the Main Intelligence Directorate (MID) of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry said that they had managed to achieve all their goals.

"Focus" collected information on the course of events on the night of March 19-20, when it was exploding and flaring up near Saratov.

The first reports of explosions near the Engels-2 airfield near Saratov appeared online around 4 am on March 20. Local residents reported that they heard from two to four powerful explosions. The explosions were quite powerful, as the shockwave made the glass in the windows shake," they told journalists from the Astra Telegram channel.

Before the explosions were heard, the Russians had allegedly noticed rumbling in the sky. At the same time, an air-raid alarm siren was switched on. In the video from the scene, the engine of an unknown device can indeed be heard humming.

The governor of the Saratov region, Roman Busargin, confirmed that there was a UAV attack. According to him, the Russian air defence forces allegedly shot down all the flying devices, no object on the territory of the region was damaged.

It should be noted that the distance from the Engels-2 airfield to the Ukrainian border is about 700 kilometres. The UAVs had to cross four regions to reach Saratov region: Belgorod, Voronezh, Volgograd and Saratov ones.

In the morning of March 20, the Russian Defence Ministry confirmed that an attack by five aircraft-type UAVs had taken place. As assured by the Russian command, the air defence forces had successfully shot down all the devices: one - over Belgorod region, four - over Saratov region.

What Was Engels Hit With?

"Focus" sources in the Ukrainian Defence Ministry's MID reported that the strategic aviation airfield was indeed attacked by Ukrainian drones. According to the scouts, they worked "effectively". This is evidenced by publications on the local public pages - the Russians talk about the fire in the Engels direction.

Journalists of the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper learnt some details about the night attack from their own sources. UP interlocutors explained that the airfield was hit by a Ukrainian-made drone of "Lyuty".

It should be noted that "Lyuty" is a UAV, the media learnt about the appearance of which thanks to an aircraft model spotted on the desk of the deputy minister of strategic industries. Later, military experts said that the device can fly about 1,000 kilometres and is barely visible to the enemy's air defence forces. They also noted that "the glider is remarkable, the attacks are perfect."

Planes Spotted at Engels-2

Journalists of the Schemes project have published satellite photos of the Engels airfield, taken on March 19, 2024 - a few hours before the night drone attack. The photos show that there were 11 planes at the airfield, of which nine were strategic aviation bombers, which Russia uses for strikes against Ukraine.

According to Schemes, two types of bombers were spotted on the runway:

Tu-95 - six units (can carry from four to eight missiles);

T-160 - three units (carrying 12 Kha-101 / Kha-555 missiles).

Photos after the strike have not yet been found on the net.

Air Defence Systems Missed AFU UAVs - What Is Known?

"Focus" received a comment on the events in Engels from the leading researcher of the State Aviation Museum of Ukraine, aviation expert Valery Romanenko. Romanenko explained that the strategic airfield of the Russian Armed Forces is protected by a powerful air defence force - a regiment with S-400 units and a division with Pantsir-S1 SAMs. The Lyuty UAV overcame these obstacles and hit the right target - this is evidence of its really high efficiency.

The expert also explained the particular complexity of the special operation, which was carried out by the MID specialists. At such a distance, there is no way to control the drone with Starlink, for example. This means that the device has to be aimed extremely precisely. In addition, it must explode close enough to the bombers to cause them really serious damage. The effectiveness of the attack will be known after the publication of fresh satellite images," Romanenko said.

Previously, the Engels airfield has already found itself under attack by Ukrainian drones. In 2024, the incident occurred on January 10: then two drones allegedly fell on the runway of the airport. A similar event occurred in December 2022: first something exploded, then - caught fire on an area of 120 square metres.

We remind you, the "Lyuty" drone has already been used to strike military facilities of the Russian Armed Forces. For example, on March 13, it was spotted over Ryazan, and on March 9 - over Taganrog.