Pantsirs, Tors, MiGs, Even Su-35s Failed to Stop Ukraine’s Strike on Khalino Airbase

Ukraine’s Defense Forces carried out a large-scale strike on the Khalino military airbase near Kursk, destroying a satellite communications command facility and hitting Russian drone launch sites, air defenses, and fuel infrastructure, Ukraine’s Kursk Grouping of Forces reported on July 22.

Khalino is a joint-use airfield located about seven kilometers, or 4.3 miles, east of central Kursk. The site includes the Kursk Vostochny International Airport, which has been closed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, and an operational military airbase.

Ukrainian heavy middle-strike drones destroyed the main command-post building of a satellite communications center, according to the grouping.

The attack also targeted launch positions used for Russian Shahed and Geran strike drones, surface-to-air missile systems, a fuel and lubricants storage area, and other military assets at the base.

Russia reportedly deployed a wide range of air defenses in an attempt to repel the raid, including Pantsir and Tor systems. MiG aircraft and even Su-35 fighters were also scrambled.

The Ukrainian military said those defenses failed to stop the attack and instead carried out what it sarcastically described as “high-precision strikes” against residential buildings and other sites in Kursk.

Until now, Khalino had been regarded as one of Russia’s most heavily protected aviation facilities.

“The Khalino military airbase—the pride of the Kremlin and its master—had until now been considered a super-protected fortress for which finding the key was thought impossible,” the Kursk Grouping of Forces said.

The unit added that specialists from its unmanned systems center, operating under Ukraine’s 8th Air Assault Corps, had demonstrated that “nothing is impossible” for them.

Earlier, Ukraine’s 15th Separate Artillery Reconnaissance Brigade “Black Forest” struck a Russian MiG-29 fighter jet and a Pantsir-S1 air defense system during an operation at Khalino airfield in Russia’s Kursk region.

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