A Ukrainian drone attack on Russia struck an aircraft facility where a spy plane already previously targeted by Kyiv was being repaired.
The Beriev Aircraft Company plant in the Rostov oblast city of Taganrog, southwestern Russia, was reportedly among the targets of what the regional Governor Vasily Golubev described as a massive drone attack overnight Friday. This has not been independently confirmed, and Newsweek has emailed the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.
Russian military bloggers said Ukraine had targeted the site that produces Be-200 amphibious aircraft. However, an A-50 Russian long-range radar detection aircraft, which had been previously damaged in a drone attack claimed by Kyiv, was being repaired at the site at the time of the strike, Ukrainian online newspaper Pravda Ukraine reported.
Evgeny Biyatov/Getty Images
However, Serhiy Bratchuk, a spokesman for the Odesa regional military administration, said the factory repairs the A-50s, which have a reported price tag of $300 million.
Two weeks ago, Ukraine’s Air Force said it had downed a Russian Beriev A-50U long-range radar-detection aircraft near the Sea of Azov on February 23 using a Soviet S-200 anti-aircraft system. Kyiv had said that it took out the same model plane on January 14 over the same body of water.
“It is not known whether the A-50U standing nearby was hit,” Bratchuk wrote on Telegram, next to a video purporting to show Friday’s strike. However, he added that geolocated footage shows a drone striking part of the Beriev site.
“This is an incredibly successful operation using kamikaze drones in the rear of the Russian Federation,” Bratchuk added. “Such powerful strikes can seriously interfere with the work of the plant, and for quite a long time.”
During the Ukrainian drone attacks on Friday night, the Russian Defense Ministry said its air defense intercepted one of the devices in Rostov, Belgorod Kursk and Volgograd Oblasts. Moscow authorities have reported a spike in Ukrainian drone strikes targeting regions within Russia.
Last month’s reported loss of the A-50, which some Kremlin-friendly milbloggers said may have been struck by friendly fire, dealt a significant blow to Moscow’s air capabilities.
Last week, British defense officials said that Russia had “likely grounded” its A-50 in a move that would degrade its air crew’s situational awareness. This would be problematic over the contested airspace of eastern and southern Ukraine.
The U.K. Defense Ministry said Moscow will look to repurpose aircraft and bring back previously mothballed A-50 airframes to help its stretched air fleet provide support to ground troops.
Russia has also reportedly lost a number of its fighter planes in recent weeks, which have included a dozen Sukhoi Su-35s and Su-34s downed within a fortnight.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.