Ukrainka (Russian: Украинка; also known as Ookrainka and Seryshevo) is one of Russia's largest strategic Long Range Aviation bases in the

Russian Far East The Russian Far East ( rus, Дальний Восток России, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in North Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asia, Asian continent, and is coextensive with the Far Easte ...

. Located in Ukrainka,

Amur Oblast Amur Oblast () is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located on the banks of the Amur and Zeya rivers in the Russian Far East. The oblast borders Heilongjiang province of the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the south. The administrati ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, 28 km north of

Belogorsk Belogorsk or Bilohirsk (; ) is the name of several types of inhabited localities in Russia, inhabited localities in Russia and Ukraine. ;Urban localities *Belogorsk, Amur Oblast, a town in Amur Oblast in Russia; administratively incorporated as an ...

, and 8 km north of the town of Seryshevo, it is a major nuclear bomber base, with large tarmacs and nearly 40

revetment A revetment in stream restoration, river engineering or coastal engineering is a facing of impact-resistant material (such as stone, concrete, sandbags, or wooden piles) applied to a bank or wall in order to absorb the energy of incoming water an ...

s. The base is home to the 79th Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment and the 182nd Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment both of the 326th Heavy Bomber Aviation Division.

History

In 1955, Ukrainka was one of only six Soviet bases capable of handling the

Myasishchev M-4 The Myasishchev M-4 ''Molot'' (), USAF/DoD reporting name "Type 37", Air Standardization Coordinating Committee, ASCC reporting name Bison) was a four-engined strategic bomber designed by Myasishchev, Vladimir Mikhailovich Myasishchev and manufa ...

(NATO: Bison) bomber. The

Tupolev Tu-22 The Tupolev Tu-22 ( Air Standardization Coordinating Committee name: Blinder) was the first supersonic bomber to enter production in the Soviet Union. Manufactured by Tupolev, the Tu-22 entered service with Long-Range Aviation and Soviet Nav ...

(NATO: Blinder) operated from the base in the 1960s-1970s, and by the 1980s, its fleet consisted of a large number of

Tupolev Tu-95 The Tupolev Tu-95 (; NATO reporting name: "Bear") is a large, four-engine turboprop-powered strategic bomber and missile platform. Maiden flight, First flown in 1952, the Tu-95 entered service with the Soviet Long Range Aviation, Long-Range Avia ...

K22 (NATO: Bear-G) and a smaller number of Tu-95K (NATO: Bear-B) aircraft. By 1994, all of the early Tu-95 variants had been replaced by the Tu-95MS (NATO: Bear-H). In 1998, it had 16 Tu-95MS16 and 27 Tu-95MS6 aircraft, according to

START I START I (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) was a bilateral treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union on the reduction and the limitation of strategic offensive arms. The treaty was signed on 31 July 1991 and entered into force on 5 De ...

treaty documents. Units stationed at Ukrainka have included: * 73rd Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment (73 TBAP), with 42 Tu-95 bombers in the mid-1990s, many from Dolon. * 40 Gv TBAP (40th Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment) with Myasishchev 3M bombers starting in 1957, and Tu-95,

Tupolev Tu-134 The Tupolev Tu-134 (NATO reporting name: Crusty) is a twin-engined, narrow-body jet airliner built in the Soviet Union for short and medium-haul routes from 1966 to 1989. The original version featured a glazed-nose design and, like certain oth ...

, and

Antonov An-26 The Antonov An-26 (NATO reporting name: Curl) is a twin-engined turboprop civilian and military transport aircraft, designed and produced in the Soviet Union from 1969 to 1986.Gordon, Yefim. Komissarov, Dmitry & Sergey. "Antonov's Turboprop Twins ...

aircraft through the 1980s and 1990s. Tu-95 bombers that made up the 1023rd and 1226th TBAPs at Dolon in the

Kazakh SSR The Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, also known as Soviet Kazakhstan, the Kazakh SSR, KSSR, or simply Kazakhstan, was one of the transcontinental constituent republics of the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1936 to 1991. Located in northern Centr ...

were withdrawn to Ukrainka after the USSR dissolved in 1992. In 2007, units stationed at the base included: * 326th Heavy Bomber Aviation Division (326 TBAD) headquarters, which arrived from Soltsy-2 in the

Leningrad Military District The Order of Lenin Leningrad Military District () is a military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The district was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1968. In 2010, it was merged with the Moscow Military District, the Northern ...

in 1998, and was probably disbanded in 2009–2010. Under control of 37th Air Army from October 1994. The division remained a core element at Ukrainka in 2020 with one regiment (flying

Tupolev Tu-22M The Tupolev Tu-22M (; NATO reporting name: Backfire) is a supersonic, variable-sweep wing, long-range strategic and maritime strike bomber developed by the Tupolev, Tupolev Design Bureau in the 1960s. The bomber was reported as being designated ...

Backfire) also deployed at the Belaya air base. *79th Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment (79 Gv TBAP), with Myasishchev 3M bombers starting in 1957, and Tu-95s through the 1980s and 1990s. *182nd Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment (182 TBAP), flying

Tu-95MS The Tupolev Tu-95 (; NATO reporting name: "Bear") is a large, four-engine turboprop-powered strategic bomber and missile platform. First flown in 1952, the Tu-95 entered service with the Long-Range Aviation of the Soviet Air Forces in 1956 and ...

aircraft as recently as 2006. The other two regiments listed under the control of the 326th TBAD by

AirForces Monthly ''Air Forces Monthly'' (AFM) is a military aviation magazine published by Key Publishing Ltd, based at Stamford in the English county of Lincolnshire in the United Kingdom. Established in 1988, the magazine provides news and analysis on mi ...

in 2007 were the 200th Heavy Bomber Air Regiment at Belaya, near Irkutsk, and the 444th Heavy Bomber Air Regiment at Vozdvizhenka (Ussuriysk). In 2009 there were extensive Air Force reductions. Strategic bomber units were reduced to three, with Ukrainka becoming the home of the 6952nd Air Base (warfare.ru reporting that it was the former 79th Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment). On June 1, 2025, as part of

Operation Spider's Web Operation Spider's Web () was a Covert operation, covert drone attack carried out by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) deep inside Russia on 1 June 2025, during the Russo-Ukrainian War. The coordinated strikes targeted the Russian Air Fo ...

, an attack on this air base was repelled as the truck carrying FPV drones exploded.

References

External links

{{authority control Soviet Long Range Aviation bases Russian Air Force bases Airports in Amur Oblast

History

See also

References

External links