As either side within the warfare in Ukraine proceed their campaigns of long-range drone assaults, the Ukrainian authorities’s inner safety company has launched a compilation of strikes directed towards Russian airbases. The video, revealed by the Safety Service of Ukraine (SBU), information drone strikes towards Russian army plane by its particular forces unit, the “Alpha Group,” also called “A” Particular Operations Middle.
“The enemy is used to feeling secure within the deep rear. However for the particular forces of “Alpha,” distance has lengthy ceased to matter,” the SBU wrote in a submit accompanying the video on social media.
The footage reveals a number of Russian plane being focused, from the angle of the attacking drones. It seems that most, if not all, of those strikes have been beforehand claimed, and a few have been beforehand seen within the type of video stills. However the finish result’s actually spectacular, presuming the entire focused plane have been broken or destroyed — which is much from clear from these movies.
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A Russian Navy Su-30SM beneath assault, apparently at Saky Air Base. SBU screencap
The SBU claims that the whole worth of the injury was greater than $1 billion, though it’s removed from clear how this was calculated, particularly since among the airframes in query are a long time outdated and not in manufacturing. It’s additionally notable that the SBU determine consists of injury inflicted on ammunition and gasoline depots on the airfields in query.
Regardless, the 15 plane claimed focused by the SBU seem to comprise:
From what might be seen, the An-26 seems to have been broken past restore, whereas one Su-24 appears to have had at the least its tail part broken; out there satellite tv for pc imagery could present a destroyed Su-24, however the high quality of the imagery signifies that it may well’t be decided for positive.
These plane have been focused at 5 totally different airfields, the SBU acknowledged, with out disclosing their actual areas.
Nonetheless, based mostly on open-source evaluation, it appears that evidently the focused bases included Belbek, Kirovskoye, Saky, and Simferopol, all in Russian-occupied Crimea.
The rising risk of assaults like these on airbases has prompted Russia to construct new hardened plane shelters and embark on extra development to assist protect plane from drone strikes and different oblique fireplace. That is a part of a broader push by the Russian army to enhance bodily defenses at a number of airfields following the launch of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The highlighted airfield raids within the video are a part of a wider Ukrainian drone marketing campaign carried out final 12 months, by which the SBU additionally focused Russian air protection methods, radar installations, and demanding power infrastructure.
So far as air protection methods are involved, the SBU claims that it destroyed Russian gear price an estimated $4 billion final 12 months. These included S-300, S-350, and S-400 surface-to-air missile methods, in addition to superior radar methods such because the Nebo-M, Podlet, and Protivnik-GE.
In 2025, Ukraine additionally carried out the spectacular Operation Spiderweb, a large-scale Ukrainian drone strike towards airbases throughout Russia in June. This focused Moscow’s fleet of strategic bombers and noticed a reported 117 drones launched towards at the least 4 airfields.
Notable is also the truth that the particular Ukrainian marketing campaign towards Russian airfields is one thing that was introduced up by U.S. President Donald Trump in a phone name together with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, final summer time. The timing of that decision means that Operation Spiderweb prompted that dialogue.
Plenty of persons are reposting this Trump Reality Social submit as if it’s current (partly as a result of Ukraine simply launched one other video of hitting parked Russian warplanes), however it’s actually from final summer time. pic.twitter.com/8jodT8bm7H
— Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) January 29, 2026
Ukraine’s means to strike high-value Russian targets at appreciable vary has been bolstered by the addition of long-range cruise missiles, in addition to an increasing stock of assault drones, each massive and small.
In the meantime, SBU is constant its long-range drone strikes.
In a single day on January 13, the safety company teamed up with the Ukrainian Navy to assault a drone manufacturing facility in Taganrog, the place a number of manufacturing halls seem to have been destroyed, based mostly on satellite tv for pc evaluation.
Ukrainian Defenders destroyed a number of warehouses of Atlant Aero plant in Taganrog, Russia. Fight drones and their components have been produced there.
Glory! pic.twitter.com/P6RcfpXtbl
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) January 16, 2026
The ability in query, the Atlant Aero manufacturing facility, is accountable, amongst others, for producing Russia’s Molniya loitering munition, extensively utilized in Ukraine.
Ukrainian forces reportedly hit a Russian drone manufacturing facility within the metropolis of Taganrog tonight, setting it ablaze.
A number of explosions have been reported on the Atlant drone firm, producer of the Molniya-series assault drones. pic.twitter.com/yr3SA3b7gV
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) January 13, 2026
Drones getting used to strike enemy services producing drones could be very a lot indicative of the trail the warfare has taken, in terms of the growing use and variety of uncrewed methods throughout all fronts.
For its half, Russia employed a BM-35 loitering munition to assault what was claimed by some observers to be a Ukrainian F-16 fighter at Kanatove Air Base in Ukraine’s Kirovohrad area, on January 26. In reality, the goal was both a decoy or a ground-instructional help, one thing that even Russia’s Rubicon Drone Operations Middle attested to.
This isn’t the primary time {that a} Russian drone strike has claimed a Ukrainian plane mock-up, however once more demonstrates the potential vulnerability of airfields to those sorts of assaults.
Notably, too, the BM-35 drone utilized in the strike is reported to use satellite tv for pc connectivity by way of Starlink, permitting operators to management it in actual time over lengthy distances.
The SBU’s newest ‘biggest hits’ compilation underscores how drone assaults on Russian army plane are one in every of its highest priorities and one that we’ll actually see focused once more within the months to come back.
Contact the creator: thomas@thewarzone.com