Ukrainian forces struck Akhtubinsk military airfield in the Astrakhan region overnight on November 15, and a major secondary explosion followed at a storage facility holding guided missile components. Ukraine’s General Staff said the operation also hit a PRV-13 mobile radar altimeter at the same site.
The airfield sits about 650 kilometers, or 404 miles, from the front line. It hosts the Russian Defense Ministry’s 929th State Flight Test Center, where new military aircraft and aviation weapons are tested.
Akhtubinsk and the Russian Su
The same facility serves as a base for Russian Su-34 fighter-bombers, which are used to launch guided aerial bombs against Ukrainian cities and military positions. That makes the overnight strike more than a hit on infrastructure: it reached a site tied to aircraft testing and combat aviation inside Russia.
Ukraine’s General Staff also said Ukrainian forces struck the Tsymbulova drone facility near the settlement of the same name in the Oryol region overnight on November 15. The facility was used to store, prepare, and launch Russian attack drones deployed against Ukrainian cities, energy facilities, and civilian infrastructure.
Ukraine’s General Staff said the operations had been carried out on November 15, and the previous Akhtubinsk strike on August 20 damaged a Russian Su-34 fighter-bomber and caused a fuel spill. For readers trying to judge the scale of the latest attack, the difference is between a verified secondary detonation and a full damage assessment: the footage circulating online shows explosions at the airfield, but the source does not independently establish how far the damage spread across the facility.
One more detail matters for the operational picture. Akhtubinsk was struck before, and the new hit again reached the same military aviation site. What remains unspooled is the exact effect on the warehouse, the runway area, and the aircraft tied to the 929th State Flight Test Center.
