russians lost at least seven more aircraft at the Saky airbase in the temporarily occupied Crimea. According to the SSU, the strike targeted shelters housing Su-30SM and Su-30 fighters, as well as Su-24 front-line bombers.
This is the second strike on aircraft shelters at the Saky airbase carried out by the SSU within the past week. The previous strike took place on the night of July 1 and demonstrated the ability to effectively destroy aircraft in the new concrete shelters that the enemy began constructing in the fall of 2024 at 14 frontline airbases.
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It should be noted that the ability to strike russian combat aircraft in shelters has become possible thanks to the increase in the payload capacity of Ukrainian drones to 200 kg. Such a high-explosive fragmentation warhead may be sufficient to crack the inner surface of a concrete slab, causing fragments of the concrete to strike everything inside. This may involve the use of a tandem warhead, such as the BROACH warhead used in Storm Shadow cruise missiles.
As Defense Express wrote after the first strike, russians have only two options, both of which are favorable for Ukraine. In the first scenario, the enemy could have redeployed its aircraft farther away, beyond the range of Ukrainian drones equipped with powerful warheads. This would have reduced tactical aviation activity, as aircraft would have had to spend more time flying to the mission area, while also accelerating the depletion of their service life.
At the same time, more remote airfields do not have shelters for russian Su-27-derived aircraft, such as the Su-30, Su-34, and Su-35. However, their greater distance from the front and the ability to relocate aircraft out of harm's way could be viewed by the enemy as major security benefits.
Instead, russians opted for the second scenario: leaving everything as it was. The SSU has clearly begun to take full advantage of this, and other branches of the Defense Forces of Ukraine are expected to begin striking air bases soon.
In addition, the SSU reported a successful attack on the Hvardiiskeairbase near Simferopol, where two hangars containing Shahed-type drones and other aviation equipment were struck. It is worth noting that the enemy stores some of its long-range UAVs in so-called droneports as well as in concrete shelters; destroying these facilities could, to some extent, reduce the enemy's ability to use these launch sites.
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