Russia faces largest drone attack yet
30 August, 2023 A fire at Pskov airport after a drone attack, August 29, 2023. On the night of August 30, Russia faced the largest drone attack ever. Numerous targets in the Moscow, Tula, Pskov, Bryansk regions and Sevastopol city were attacked by drones.
Militarnyi reported on this with reference to Russian media. At approximately 11:30 p.m. on August 29, the Pskov airport, located 700 kilometers from the border with Ukraine, was attacked by a group of unidentified drones. As a result of the successful attack, four Il-76 military transport aircraft were hit, two of which were destroyed.
The airfield infrastructure was also damaged.
Russian Il-76 military transport aircraft on fire, Pskov, August 30, 2023.
Some Russian media also reported strikes on another military facility in Promezhytsy near Pskov, namely the depots of military unit 64044, which belongs to the 2nd Guards Separate Special Purpose Brigade. The latter is subordinated to the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (GRU). After the strikes, the so-called Edelweiss plan was announced in Pskov, under which the airport and military unit were surrounded by armed police officers of the OMON police unit.
In Bryansk, at around 01:00 a.m. on August 30, at least six drones attacked a number of targets. Some of the drones were shot down by air defense systems.
One of the drones hit a facility on the territory of the Kremniy EL plant and damaged it. This plant is Russia's largest microelectronics manufacturer and manufactures products for the Russian Ministry of Defense. Starting at 01:17 a.m., drones were also spotted in the Oryol, Ryazan, Tula, Kaluga, and Moscow regions. In the Moscow region and a number of other regions, the Kovyor (Carpet) plan was announced, which provides for the suspension of flights and the halt of all takeoffs and landings.
In the Tula region, a drone hit an unknown target, however the type of target and the level of its destruction are currently unknown. In the Ryazan region, at 3 a.m., one of the drones was shot down 11 kilometers from the Dyagilevo strategic air base, and the other at about 4 a.m., about 7 kilometers from the airfield.
In the Kaluga region, two drones hit the territory of the Pervy Zavod oil refinery, which processes crude oil and gas condensate, half an hour apart. The crash caused a distillation pipeline to catch fire. To date, this is the largest drone attack on Russian territory in the entire Russian-Ukrainian war.
Dozens of drones attacked targets in seven regions, including the capital. Most of the targets where drones were spotted or targets were hit are located between 100 and 700 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
Locations where unidentified attack drones were spotted during the large-scale attack on July 30. Photo credits: Google Earth map.
The specific sound of the unknown drones was captured on video by local residents, and it proves those drones were equipped with an internal combustion engine.
Together with the flight range, it can be assumed that these were Ukrainian Bober drones.
Serhii Prytula and Serhii Sternenko near Bober drones.
Photo credits: Serhiy Prytula.
These long-range drones have already been used repeatedly in attacks on Moscow.
At least some of them were purchased by Ukrainian volunteers.