Moscow -

The Russian Ministry of Defense directly accused the Ukrainian forces of being behind the attack on the "Ingels" base located in the Saratov region, southeastern European part of Russia, which is one of the most important Russian military bases.

A statement issued by the Russian Ministry of Defense said that "the attempted strike was carried out by a modified Soviet-made drone, with the aim of paralyzing the ability of the Russian long-range aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces, and that the Russian air defense systems intercepted the Ukrainian drone, which was flying at a low altitude, but 3 of the Russian military technicians were mortally wounded as a result of falling wreckage of the aircraft.

Despite the Russian assertion, the Ukrainian army did not officially acknowledge carrying out the attack, but a spokesman for the Air Force in Kyiv, Yuri Ignat, said, "It is a result of what Russia is doing on Ukrainian soil."

Engels military base ranked the best military bases in Russia (Associated Press)

great military importance

The establishment of the "Engels" base dates back to the year 1930, when it was initially a military college for training pilots, and during World War II it played an important role in confronting German forces and launching counterattacks against them.

From this base, a helicopter took off on April 12, 1961, whose mission was to find the first astronaut in history - Yuri Gagarin - after returning from space to Earth.

This base is about 700 km from the nearest area controlled by Ukraine, and includes strategic bombers, "TU-160" (TU-160) and "TU-95 MC" (TU-95 MC), and Kyiv says it is used to launch Attacks on targets inside Ukraine.

According to the latest data available on it (for the year 2021), the "Inglis" air base is the only one in which the 19 Russian strategic "TU-160" bombers are stationed.

Russia manufactured 6 pieces of these launchers after the collapse of the Soviet Union, while 8 others were withdrawn between 1999 and 2000 from the Ukrainian Priluki base, in a deal agreed upon at the time between Moscow and Kiev to pay off the Ukrainian debt in exchange for Russian gas.

Since 2007 until today, a state of permanent combat readiness has been applied inside the air base, based on a presidential decree, according to which the strategic bombers are on a continuous combat mission in "remote" areas.

Since 2012, it has been considered the “best air base” that includes the best variety of long-range aviation, after testing by a specialized government committee that took into account the size of the tasks performed there, the level of professional training, and the qualifications and competence of personnel.

Double goal

The Russian accusation of the Ukrainian attack comes at a time when Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky warned that Russia is preparing to launch missile attacks on his country on New Year's Eve.

The Ukrainian authorities have not yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but say that the long-range planes at the base are used to carry out missile strikes on Ukraine, including against its energy infrastructure facilities.

Russian military affairs analyst Yuri Zhdanov says that launching a new strike on the "Inglis" air base has great political and propaganda importance for Ukraine, as it will use the incident to launch a media war aimed at questioning the effectiveness of Russian air defenses, especially those responsible for protecting airports and areas over which the drone flew. Ukrainian "especially since it is the second attack of its kind in one month."

In addition to the propaganda factor, Zhdanov does not rule out that such an operation would have a more important goal represented in trying to discover the location of the Russian air defense units, identify their weaknesses, the speed of reaction available to them, and the location of the radars and launchers of launchers and missiles.

But he believes that it is unlikely that the "Ukrainian raid" will change the situation on the front, and most importantly, it will not affect the ability of Russian forces to launch large-scale missile strikes on Ukraine.

Ukrainian rescue workers stand in an area destroyed by a Russian missile near the capital Kyiv (Reuters)

The need for a radar network

For his part, the military expert Konstantin Sivkov considers that the repeated attacks on the same targets, as happened with the "Ingels" base, require a strong response from Russia, and the response includes striking all sensitive and important Ukrainian military sites.

In the context of his speech, Sivkov stresses the need to re-establish a radar network over Russia as a whole, which, in his opinion, would make it possible to detect and shoot down Ukrainian drones even from a great distance.

He adds that this system of protection existed in the Soviet Union, before the reforms within the army carried out at the time by Anatoly Serdyukov (Russian Defense Minister from 2007 to 2021) came and eliminated it.

However, the Russian military expert points out that the process of restoring the radar field is very difficult and takes a long time, as a large number of radar stations must be installed.

In his opinion, this gap can be addressed by manufacturing a larger number of radar detection aircraft, which numbered 30 at the moment of the collapse of the Soviet Union, and used to secure control over the entire European part of Russia, but now Russia has only 9 aircraft of this type.

The expert considers that the "second attack on Engels", although it appears to be in the context of a psychological and propaganda war on the part of the Ukrainian forces in order to pressure public opinion inside Russia, at the same time gives justification for more stringent retaliatory measures against the "enemy" positions, and as quickly as possible. time and using effective weapons, including free-fall bombs.

Sivkov concluded, "The Ukrainian forces must know that such attacks on Russian strategic facilities will not go unanswered."