Ukraine steps up attacks on Russian air bases to counter strikes on cities and infrastructure

(CNN) — Ukrainian security services have stepped up drone and sabotage operations against Russian combat aircraft and submarines this month, in what analysts see as one way to combat incessant Russian missile strikes against cities and energy infrastructure.

In the last three weeks, Ukraine has used long-range drones in attacks on Russian airfields in occupied Crimea and southern Russia, taking out several attack aircraft.

On Saturday night, according to Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence, two Russian Su-30 fighters were successfully hit in a sabotage operation at Lipetsk airfield in western Russia.

The extent of the damage cannot be independently verified. The Russian military has not publicly commented on the incident.

“Planning the special operation at the airfield near Lipetsk took two weeks,” Defense Intelligence said. Russian patrol routines at the base had been monitored and the saboteurs left the base “unhindered,” the agency added.

Russian bases in Crimea have also come under attack this month. On the same night as the Lipetsk operation, long-range drones struck two Su-27 aircraft at Belbek, according to the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), which supplied imagery of the operation.

“One of the aircraft was on the runway with a full combat load and was ready for combat flight. It was destroyed,” the SBU said.

Modernized versions of the Su-27 can carry guided bombs, which have caused extensive devastation in Ukraine.

Belbek was struck twice within days, suggesting Ukraine is finding new ways to evade and destroy Russian air defenses. The SBU claimed it destroyed radar equipment and an air defense system at the base on December 18, leaving it more vulnerable to the subsequent strike.

A MiG-31 aircraft with a full combat load was destroyed in the same raid, according to the SBU.

And on Monday, Ukraine’s military said it struck the Tamanneftegaz oil terminal in Russia’s Krasnodar region. The military said a pipeline, two berths and two ships sustained damage and that fires broke out. That oil terminal, according to Ukraine, supports the “financing and logistics of the occupiers’ military operations.”

Krasnodar regional authorities confirmed that two ships and two piers were destroyed in the drone attack. Everyone on board the ships was evacuated, and there were no casualties among crew or shore personnel, the authorities said.

Fires covering more than 1,000 square meters broke out, damaging the piers, according to Krasnodar officials.

‘Steady attrition’

At the beginning of the month, an attack on another Crimean airfield — at Saky — led analyst David Axe to comment that “Ukrainian missiles and drones are driving the Russian navy’s Black Sea fighter and bomber regiment into extinction.”

“The steady attrition of Crimea-based Russian warplanes underscores the prowess of Ukraine’s deep-strike drone units,” noted Axe in his Trench Art blog.

The Saky attack destroyed an Su-24, and the full complement of combat planes at the base is now less than half of what it was in 2022, according to analysts.

At roughly the same time, a Russian MiG-29 was struck at Kacha airfield in Crimea, 20 miles south of Saky, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, in what appears to have been a sabotage operation rather than a drone strike, an indication of intelligence-led planning and execution.

While the Su-30 is still in production, the Su-24, a workhorse of Russian combat aviation, is not.

The Ukrainian security services are not just targeting Russian planes. A sea drone was involved in an attack on a Russian submarine at its base in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk a week ago.

“The submarine suffered critical damage and was effectively put out of action,” the SBU claimed.

The Kilo class submarine is one of several used to fire Kalibr cruise missiles at Ukrainian cities. Satellite imagery showed the submarine immobile but still afloat, but it’s unclear whether it is operational.

Russia still has hundreds of strike aircraft, some of which are held in storage, but to the Ukrainian security services, every one struck is one fewer firing missiles and dropping bombs on Ukrainian positions and infrastructure. The same applies to Russia’s shrinking stock of attack submarines in the Black Sea.

A Christmas on alert

Amid Ukraine’s spate of attacks on Russian assets, the government in Kyiv is bracing for potential Russian attacks around Christmas.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday the military is on alert for potential attacks, and he called on Ukraine’s intelligence services to “significantly step up their work.”

“We understand that precisely on these days they may — this is in their nature — carry out massive strikes on Christmas,” Zelensky posted on X. He added that officials held a meeting about defending Ukrainian localities especially from December 23 through 25.

The president also pointed out the lack of Ukrainian air defenses available to counter Russian strikes.

“The military must pay attention directly, ensure protection as much as they can,” he said. “Everything is very difficult, because there is, unfortunately, a shortage of air defense systems. And people also need to pay attention — serious attention — during these days, because these ‘comrades’ may launch such strikes — there is nothing sacred for them.”

Zelensky’s remarks came as a Ukrainian delegation makes its way back from Miami after holding talks with US officials about ending Russia’s war.

“In my view, everything possible that we needed to do for the initial drafts had already been done,” Zelensky posted to X. “Not everything is perfect so far, but this plan is in place.”

The Ukrainian president said that the working drafts of the peace plan were prepared by the Ukrainian military, adding: “Importantly, they have been developed by us and by the United States of America. This indicates that we are very close to a real outcome.”

Zelensky said the “core” document is ready, though there are certain points that Ukraine is not prepared to accept.

“And there are things — of that I am sure — that the Russians are not prepared to accept either,” he posted. He said Ukraine will receive feedback from the Americans about their “continuing negotiations with Russian representatives.”

In Moscow, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov called the Trump administration’s skeptical view of NATO a positive step but said Russia still has concerns about the US position on ending the war in Ukraine. Speaking Monday to a Russian think tank, Ryabkov praised language in a US national security strategy document unveiled by the White House this month on “ending the perception, and preventing the reality, of NATO as a perpetually expanding alliance.”

“This does not at all mean that we no longer have serious questions for the American side, including in the Ukrainian context,” Ryabkov said. “However, it would not be fair not to recognize the above as significant steps in the right direction.”

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CNN’s Hira Humayun and Nina Subkhanberdina contributed to this report.