Ukraine says it destroyed glide bombs at a Russian air base that aircraft fly out of to bomb the front lines

• Ukraine used long-range drones to strike a Russian airbase in the Volgograd region overnight.

• The attack caused blasts at warehouses storing glide bombs, a Ukrainian security source said.

• It appears to mark the latest Ukrainian effort to target military facilities inside Russia.

Ukrainian forces used long-range drones to attack a key Russian airbase overnight, destroying warehouses that stored fuel, ammunition, and highly destructive glide bombs.

The attack targeted the Marynivka airfield in Russia’s Volgograd region, a site actively used to launch aircraft that bomb the front lines, a source in the Security Service of Ukraine told Business Insider on Thursday, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive operations.

It appeared to mark Ukraine’s latest long-range strike on an important military installation inside Russia.

The SBU source said that the attack was a joint effort between the SBU and Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces. The strikes on the Russian airfield triggered explosions at warehouses storing guided aerial bombs, ammo, and fuel throughout the night and morning.

Video footage circulating on social media is said to show black plumes of smoke rising from the airfield. Business Insider, however, was not able to independently verify the details of the video.

“The SBU works with surgical precision at the airfields from which the enemy attacks Ukraine,” the source said, per a translation of remarks shared with BI, adding that each strike like this “reduces the superiority of the Russians in the air and significantly limits their aviation capabilities.”

Ukraine is prohibited from using its arsenal of powerful, Western-made missiles to strike inside Russia. To work around these restrictions, Kyiv has relied heavily on locally produced, long-range attack drones to wage a monthslong campaign targeting Moscow’s military and energy facilities.

During this campaign, Ukraine has specifically attempted to clamp down on the Russian glide-bomb threat.

Glide bombs are dumb bombs that are equipped with special kits to turn them into precision-guided munitions. They are highly destructive (Russia has used some weighing over 6,000 pounds in combat) and are difficult to intercept because they have fairly short flight times, small radar signatures, and travel on non-ballistic trajectories, creating a challenge for air defense units.

Russia has used its glide bombs to inflict damage on both Ukrainian troop positions and civilian infrastructure throughout much of the war, but these troubling weapons have been especially problematic in recent months.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that Russia used more than 750 glide bombs in a single week earlier this month.

Because glide bombs are notoriously tough to stop, the only way for Ukraine to really eliminate the threat is to either shoot down the Russian fighter-bombers before they release the munition or strike the aircraft — and the bombs — on the ground at their airfields.

Ukraine has carried out a number of strikes over the past few months targeting airfields in Russia where fighter-bombers and glide bombs are kept, including the most recent attack at Marynivka.

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