Satellite images showed no visible damage at the Russian airfield in Engels after the recent attacks on December 26 and December 29.
The War Zone publication published a photo from December 29, when the media reported on another drone attack on the base. On that day, air defense was working on it, and three days before that (December 26), three servicemen of the technical staff who were servicing the Tu-160 missile-carrying bomber died at the base as a result of an attack.
The Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine claimed that at that time, in addition to the deaths of personnel, planes and other equipment were damaged, but this is not visible in the picture.
The satellite image shows no obvious damage at the Engels Air Base.
Independent researchers note that after December 26, the sky over Engels was cloudy and nothing was visible on satellite images. Therefore, the Russians could manage to remove all the consequences of the explosion at the airfield in three days.
The War Zone, however, draws attention to significant changes at the base. At the end of November, before the attacks, there were 31 strategic bombers at the base. In the picture from December 29, only 11 bombers are visible. Six of them — four Tu-95s and two Tu-160s — are completely covered in snow. Five Tu-95s have been cleared of snow, and the area around one Tu-160 has been partially cleared. The photo also shows the new protective barriers that have begun to be erected between the planes.
- On the morning of December 26, the Engels airfield in Saratov region of the Russian Federation was hit by drones. The strategic aviation of the Russian army is based there. As a result of the impact, three people died, four were hospitalized. After the attack, a fire started on an area of more than 120 meters.