Kulbakine is an 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

Mykolaiv Mykolaiv ( ), also known as Nikolaev ( ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and a hromada (municipality) in southern Ukraine. Mykolaiv is the Administrative centre, administrative center of Mykolaiv Raion (Raions of Ukraine, district) and Myk ...

Mykolaiv Oblast Mykolaiv Oblast (, ), also referred to as Mykolaivshchyna (, ), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) of Ukraine. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Mykolaiv. At the most recent estimate, the population ...

, Ukraine. The base is home to the

299th Tactical Aviation Brigade The 299th Tactical Aviation Brigade (299 BrTA,''"Lieutenant General Vasyl Nikiforov"''), is a formation of the Ukrainian Air Force based at Kulbakino Air Base, Mykolaiv Oblast. The unit is equipped with Sukhoi Su-25 attack aircraft and is tasked w ...

, which flies

Sukhoi Su-24 The Sukhoi Su-24 (NATO reporting name: Fencer) is a supersonic, night fighter, all-weather tactical bomber developed in the Soviet Union. The aircraft has a variable-sweep wing, Twinjet, twin engines and a side-by-side seating arrangement for it ...

Sukhoi Su-25 The Sukhoi Su-25 ''Grach'' ( ('' rook''); NATO reporting name: Frogfoot) is a subsonic, single-seat, twin-engine jet aircraft developed in the Soviet Union by Sukhoi. It was designed to provide close air support for Soviet Ground Forces. Th ...

, Aero L-39C Albatros and Aero L-39M aircraft. Kulbakine's runway and fuel and ammunition depots were bombarded by Russian jets at approximately 05:00 on 24 February 2022, as part of the initial Russian strikes on Ukrainian military bases in the early hours of the

invasion An invasion is a Offensive (military), military offensive of combatants of one geopolitics, geopolitical Legal entity, entity, usually in large numbers, entering territory (country subdivision), territory controlled by another similar entity, ...

. The bombing caused a large fire. On 4 March 2022, Russian forces entered the airbase, but by 17:30, Ukrainian forces had recaptured it, according to Vitalii Kim, governor of Mykolaiv Oblast.

References

{{Reflist Buildings and structures in Mykolaiv Oblast Ukrainian airbases