Satellite shows stricken Luhansk airport by ATACMS

The Planet Labs satellite confirms the strike of Russian troops at Luhansk airport. The Armed Forces of Ukraine used ATACMS missiles against the occupiers. Reportedly, at least five helicopters were damaged.

Stricken helicopters at Luhansk airport. Source: twitter.com/Tatarigami_UA

Luhansk airport

Photos of Luhansk airport appeared on the web. On October 17, the press service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that it was hit by American ATACMS missiles simultaneously with a similar facility in Berdyansk. As a result of this attack, at least five helicopters belonging to the occupiers were destroyed.

Luhansk airport was only a civilian airport until 2014. At the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Donbas that year, it became one of the key points of Ukrainian defense. However, in the end, the Armed Forces of Ukraine were forced to leave it, and since then it has not functioned. But with the beginning of a large-scale invasion, the invaders turned it into a base for their helicopters.

Luhansk airport in summer. Source: Schemes

The fact that it was used as a military facility was shown in the picture, which dates back to August 19, 2023, and was posted by the Ukrainian edition of Schemes. The airport is located at a certain distance from Luhansk to the south of it.

What can be seen in the pictures

A detailed analysis of the picture was carried out by the user of the network X (formerly Twitter) — Tatarigami_UA, who calls himself a Ukrainian officer in the reserve. He analyzed the condition of the helicopters at the airport and came to the conclusion that at least five of them were damaged to varying degrees.

Damage to the runway. Source: twitter.com/Tatarigami_UA

It could be that other objects on the airport’s territory received damage, including equipment used for helicopter maintenance. However, now, due to the condition of the airport, it is impossible to establish this unequivocally. 

Experts point out that there are numerous traces of ruptures on the runway surface. This is in good agreement with reports that Ukraine has received an ATACMS missile variant, the warhead of which contains 950 M74 small cluster munitions. But despite this, unharmed Russian helicopters continue to be on the territory of the airport.

According to t.me/cxemu, twitter.com/Tatarigami_UA

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