Six Su-34s in Flames: Ukraine Hits Putin's Bombers Deep in the Rear

TVS News AI, editorially supervised, presents Six Su-34s in Flames: Ukraine Hits Putin's Bombers Deep in the Rear.

Flames in the night sky over Khanskaya, multiple detonations in succession, then smoke over the runway: Ukrainian drones have, according to consistent media reports, destroyed Su-34 fighter bombers at a military airfield in the Voronezh region. What had been considered one of the deepest and therefore safest positions of the Russian Air Force has now at least temporarily failed — the reach of the drone war now visibly extends into the skies of the Russian rear.

What Remains on the Ground at Khanskaya

The attack targeted, according to Express, the Khanskaya military airfield in southern Russia, roughly 500 kilometers from the Ukrainian border and the front. In videos circulating on social media and picked up by Merkur and other newsrooms, flames in the night sky and a series of detonations can be seen.

According to the Frankfurter Rundschau, four Su-34s were reportedly destroyed and additional aircraft damaged. Bild specifies: a total of six Su-34s hit, four destroyed and two damaged. Both accounts do not contradict each other — the four-destroyed figure matches up, Bild simply provides the larger overall scope.

Why the Su-34 Specifically Is in the Crosshairs

The Su-34 is Russia's most important aircraft for glide bombs and cruise missiles, which are dropped from a safe distance over its own territory. This is precisely the role described in the Wikipedia entry on Operation Spiderweb: Since the start of the war on February 24, 2022, Russia has used this tactic because Ukrainian air defense normally cannot reach the bombers. If one of the rear bases now becomes vulnerable, that very logic begins to wobble.

Express puts the material damage of a single strike at around 150 million US dollars. Regardless of the exact figure, one thing is clear: every bomber lost means fewer flight hours for attacks on Ukraine — and thus less pressure on the front.

Satellite Images Confirm the Force of the Blow

n-tv writes that satellite images show smoldering wreckage on the field. This fits the nighttime footage, in which smoke and flames remained visible over several minutes — brief enough for a precisely coordinated attack, long enough to hit multiple aircraft simultaneously.

A Strike Far from the Front Line

The message extends beyond Khanskaya. Der Westen reports that in the same wave there were explosions in Moscow and its suburbs. News.de describes that Putin's air defense was unable to prevent the approach. For you, this means: the distance "far from the front" has lost its protective character for Russia — and with every aircraft that burns out on its own soil, the pressure grows on Moscow to scale back its air strikes on Ukraine or to completely rework the protection of the deep inland bases.