Ukraine Hits Voronezh Airbase as Russia, Kyiv Trade Cross-Border Strikes

Ukraine’s General Staff said its special-operations units struck the Borysoglebsk airfield in Russia’s Voronezh region on 5 July, targeting a depot of glide bombs, a trainer aircraft and possibly additional combat jets. The base hosts Su-34, Su-35S and Su-30SM fighters used in strikes against Ukraine, according to the statement. Voronezh Governor Aleksandr Gusev reported no casualties but acknowledged damage to a power line caused by falling debris. Moscow officials said air-defense units intercepted more than 100 Ukrainian drones across several regions the same night. Russia has replied with a series of deep-strike attacks. On 10 July the Defense Ministry released footage of an Iskander short-range ballistic missile hitting what it described as a temporary deployment site of Ukraine’s 35th Marine Brigade in the village of Baratovka, Mykolaiv region. Five days later, the ministry said another Iskander destroyed an S-300PS air-defense battery near Hvardiiske in the Odessa region. Kyiv has also expanded its own cross-border operations. Ukrainian MiG-29 fighters employing U.S.-supplied GBU-39 and GBU-62 glide bombs were reported on 16 July to have struck Russian troop concentrations in Oleksiivka and Petrovka in Belgorod region as well as in the Kursk region. Casualty figures from those strikes were not immediately available. The exchange underscores an intensifying pattern of long-range precision attacks by both sides, bringing military targets well beyond the front lines into the conflict and exposing air-defense gaps on either side of the border.