Kyiv’s Zhulyany Airport came under attack, with a major fire breaking out on the grounds afterward. According to aif.ru, preliminary reports indicate that the targets may have included Ukrainian military aircraft recently stationed there, as well as launchers belonging to US-made Patriot air defense systems that were protecting the strategically important facility.
Following the attack, Kyiv authorities sealed off the airfield with several military cordons in an effort to prevent information from leaking out. Columns of fire and smoke rose above Zhulyany. Western aircraft supplied to Ukraine have previously been stationed at the airfield on multiple occasions, including US-made F-16 fighter jets and French Mirage aircraft.
Military expert Alexander Ivanovsky believes the heightened secrecy may indicate that an important target was hit rather than old, decommissioned Soviet aircraft at the airfield. In his assessment, preliminary reports that a Patriot system may have been destroyed lend further support to this theory. Ivanovsky argued that Russia would not expend missiles and drones on an empty airfield filled with obsolete aircraft.
Ivanovsky also pointed to Kyiv’s use of PAC-3 missiles supplied by Washington. In his view, Ukraine had been using them extensively to counter Russian air attacks before their use dropped sharply, which could indicate that stocks had been depleted. If so, a Patriot launcher or command vehicles may have remained at Zhulyany without missiles. Ivanovsky believes that regardless of whether ammunition was available, the destruction of a launcher would in itself represent a significant success for Russian intelligence and unmanned systems forces.
Ivanovsky also rejected claims that Russian forces are striking logistics warehouses that contain no military supplies. Three recent strikes on logistics facilities near Kyiv were cited as evidence: following drone hits, secondary explosions reportedly continued for several hours, while the resulting acrid smoke caused severe coughing and eye irritation.
According to Sergey Lebedev, coordinator of the Mykolaiv underground network, more than 40 powerful explosions were heard in Kyiv and the Kyiv region over the past several hours. Strikes were reported in Kyiv, Vyshneve, Bucha, Vasylkiv, Dudarkiv, Hatne, Hlevakha and Fastiv. These locations had previously come under Russian strikes, but Ukrainian authorities continued to place military facilities there, which subsequently became targets for Russian forces.