On 24 February 2022, the Chuhuiv Air Base in

Chuhuiv Chuhuiv ( uk, Чугуїв) or Chuguev (russian: Чугуев) is a city in Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine. The city is the administrative center of Chuhuiv Raion (district). It hosts the administration of Chuhuiv urban hromada, one of the hromadas of ...

Kharkiv Oblast Kharkiv Oblast ( uk, Харківська́ о́бласть, translit=Kharkivska oblast), also referred to as Kharkivshchyna ( uk, Ха́рківщина), is an oblast (province) of eastern Ukraine. The oblast borders Russia to the north, Luhan ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian invas ...

was the target of an air strike by Russian forces as part of the

Northeastern Ukraine offensive The northeastern Ukraine campaign was a theatre of operation from 24 February to 8 April 2022 in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine for control of two provinces (oblasts) in Ukraine — Chernihiv Oblast and Sumy Oblast. On 4 April 2022, Ukr ...

during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Background

Chuhuiv air base is located in the city of

in Ukraine. The air base was capable of housing

Baykar Bayraktar TB2 The Bayraktar TB2 is a medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations. It is manufactured by the Turkish company Baykar Makina Sanayi ve Ticaret A.� ...

drones, as did the military airfields in

Starokostyantyniv Starokostiantyniv ( uk, Старокостянтинів; pl, Starokonstantynów, or ''Konstantynów''; yi, אלט-קאָנסטאַנטין ''Alt Konstantin'') is a city in Khmelnytskyi Raion, Khmelnytskyi Oblast (province) of western Ukraine. ...

and

Mykolaiv Mykolaiv ( uk, Миколаїв, ) is a city and municipality in Southern Ukraine, the administrative center of the Mykolaiv Oblast. Mykolaiv city, which provides Ukraine with access to the Black Sea, is the location of the most downriver bri ...

Attack

In the opening hours of the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, a Russian missile attack targeted the Chuhuiv air base. Following the attack, the US-based space technologies' company

Maxar Maxar Technologies Inc. is a space technology company headquartered in Westminster, Colorado, United States, specializing in manufacturing communication, Earth observation, radar, and on-orbit servicing satellites, satellite products, and relate ...

published satellite images depicting damage resulting from the missile strike. According to

open-source intelligence Open-source intelligence (OSINT) is the collection and analysis of data gathered from open sources (covert and publicly available sources) to produce actionable intelligence. OSINT is primarily used in national security, law enforcement, and bus ...

information, the attack left damage to fuel storage areas and other airport infrastructure. Also, at least five L-39 jet trainers, parked at the air base, were either destroyed or heavily damaged.

Later attacks

On 10 April 2022, Russian officials claimed their forces targeted Ukrainian S-300 air defences present at Chuhuiv airbase.

References

Northeastern Ukraine campaign Battles of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine February 2022 events in Ukraine Chuhuiv History of Kharkiv Oblast Airstrikes during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Attacks on military installations in the 2020s {{Ukraine-hist-stub