Kanatove () is a reserve air base of the

Ukrainian Air Force The Ukrainian Air Force (, PS ZSU) is the air force of Ukraine and one of the eight Military branch, branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (ZSU). Its current form was created in 2004 by merging the Ukrainian Air Defence Forces into the Air Fo ...

located near

Kropyvnytskyi Kropyvnytskyi (, ) is a city in central Ukraine, situated on the Inhul, Inhul River. It serves as the administrative center of Kirovohrad Oblast. Population: Over its history, Kropyvnytskyi has changed its name several times. The settlement ...

Kirovohrad Oblast Kirovohrad Oblast (), also known as Kirovohradshchyna (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (''province'') in central Ukraine. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Kropyvnytskyi. The oblast's population is It is ...

, Ukraine.

History

The base was previously used by the

Soviet Air Forces The Soviet Air Forces (, VVS SSSR; literally "Military Air Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics"; initialism VVS, sometimes referred to as the "Red Air Force") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Sovie ...

: * 88th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment between 1984 and 1987 as part of the

17th Air Army The 17th Air Army () was an Air army of the Red Air Force and Soviet Air Forces from 1942. Second World War It was formed in November 1942 on the basis of the Air Forces of the Southwestern Front. It included 1st Mixed Air Corps (incl 267 Assa ...

* 190th Fighter Aviation Regiment between 1960 and 1990 as part of the 138th Fighter Aviation Division. * 727th Guards Bomber Aviation Regiment between July 1987 and January 1992 as part of the 32nd Bomber Aviation Division

2022 invasion

On 6 May, during the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, the Russian Defence Ministry said that its missiles destroyed aviation equipment at the Kanatove airfield. Three Ukrainian Su-27, bort numbers ''Blue 26, 46 and 48'' were damaged. On 23 July, three Su-27s and one Su-24 were destroyed during a Russian missile strike on the Air Base, one official died and 17 other servicemen were injured.

References

{{Reflist Ukrainian airbases Kirovohrad Oblast