The results of the Ukrainian army's attacks on several Russian aviation bases on April 5 are gradually being confirmed, and satellite photos show that in the attack on the Morozovsk base in Rostov Oblast, the results do not look as big as the Ukrainian side claims, and the drones launched by the Ukrainian army seem to be empty.
According to a report by "Chinanews.com" citing AFP on April 5, sources revealed that the Ukrainian army destroyed at least 6 Russian fighters and damaged 8 planes in the airstrike on the Morozovsk base. It should be noted that the news has not been officially confirmed by the Ukrainian government or the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, and at the time of reporting the news, we did not see any visual evidence, in other words, it was just an unconfirmed rumor.
The Russian Ministry of Defense issued a notice on the same day, saying that the Russian army shot down 53 Ukrainian drones that day, of which 44 were shot down over Rostov Oblast, and the Russian Ministry of Defense did not disclose any losses in the report.
"Privy Council No. 10" issued an article on April 8, saying that the US media released satellite photos to "slap the Ukrainian military in the face", and pointed out that "it is really clear who is lying". The satellite photos distributed show that the Molozovsk base was indeed attacked, but there are no traces of the bombing and burning of the Su-34 or Su-24 front-line bombers deployed at the base, nor can there be any traces of large-scale destruction of the base facilities, only bullet marks in the open space, according to the social accounts of the Russian Aerospace Forces, the Molozovsk base was evacuated in advance before the Ukrainian air strike, "only a secondary explosion occurred during the subsequent clean-up operation, causing some injuries."
It seems that the Ukrainian army's attack on the Molozovsk base failed, not only were most of the drones intercepted, but it was very likely that there was an intelligence leak before the air strike, allowing the Russian army to evacuate in advance and save these precious Su-34 "platypus": High-definition satellite photos released by the American commercial space company "Planet Lab" show that before the Ukrainian army's attack, there were 29 Russian fighters parked at the Molozovsk base, most of which were advanced Su-34 "platypus" , which is the main aircraft of the Russian army to carry out gliding guided bomb bombing of Ukrainian troops on the front line.
Defense Express, on the contrary, does not mention this issue, but believes that the Ukrainian army lacks suitable drones when attacking such a target as the Molozovsk base:
Most of the suicide drones launched by the Ukrainian army have light warheads, many of which are even less than 20 kilograms, and they must be accurately hit to effectively destroy the target; Neither the Storm Shadow nor the Scarp-EG cruise missiles are equipped with cluster warheads.
The Russian army helicopter airfield in Berdyansk, which was previously attacked by ATACMS missiles of the Ukrainian army, destroyed at least 9 helicopters
At present, satellite pictures have confirmed the failure of the Ukrainian army's long-range attack on the Morozovsk base, so whether the attack on the other two Russian military bases on April 5 was successful?
According to Ukrainsk Pravda, the Ukrainian army's attack on the Engels airbase on the same day was seriously damaged by three Tu-95MS "Bear" strategic bombers and seven people killed, and the attack on the Yeysk Black Sea Fleet aviation base in the Krasnodar Krai damaged seven warplanes, including four Su-30SM multi-role fighters, two Su-25 attack aircraft and one Be-200 amphibious aircraft, in addition, one diesel power station was destroyed. However, the Ukrainska Pravda report was also quoted from so-called "sources" and did not publish any credible visual evidence.
It should be emphasized that the media's reports on the large-scale air strikes of the Ukrainian army on April 5 have not been confirmed or responded to by the Ukrainian military, which is very different from the past, in similar operations in the past, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine or other departments will often announce the operation as soon as possible, even if the results are not announced, they will also say that the results are being confirmed, and now it seems that after the operation, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense realized that something was wrong, the Russian army prepared in advance and carried out evacuation activities, and the possibility of leaks within the Ukrainian army is extremely high, serving the KremlinThe "mole" has still not been removed.