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As it was expected, Russian forces launched another wave of strikes on the Ukrainian military facilities in response to Ukrainian attempts of massive drone strikes in the Russian border regions.
On the night of October 16, UAVs and missiles of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation struck infrastructure and military facilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Poltava, Kirovograd, Dnepropetrovsk, Khmelnytsky, Vinnitsa, Cherkassy, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. Explosions thundered in the cities of Dnepropetrovks, Kremenchuk, Kramatorsk, Kropivnitsky.
The targets hit last night included several Ukrainian military airfields. According to the local reports, the airport in Mirgorod, Poltava region, was damaged. Footage from the area is yet to reveal the damage. The military facilities at the airfield in Starokonstantinov in the Khmelnitsky region and Kaidaki (Dnepr) airfield in the Dnepropetrovsk region were also hit.
The Ukrainian military tried its best to disperse the remaining aircraft in various airfield in an attempt to avoid their mass destruction.
However, a lot of the aircraft were damaged by Russian strikes since the very beginning of hostilities and are currently under repair or in storage. For example, the satellite imagery published by Russian military sources shows the maintenance squadron at the Starokonstantinov airfield. The facility was destroyed by Russian missile at the very beginning of the Russian military operations in Ukraine. However, the Ukrainian military continued repair of the Su-24M, which can carry Storm Shadow missiles, at the airfield.
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The ongoing Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian airfields are unlikely to destroy the remnants of Ukrainian aircraft that can fly. These aircraft are usually lifted into the air before Russian missiles reach the facilities, including thanks to support of NATO intelligence.
At the same time, Russian precision strikes destroy Ukrainian aircraft in storage, as well as infrastructure facilities, warehouses and runways at the airfields, complicating the operations of the Ukrainian Air Force.
