Volgograd's governor, Andrei Bocharov, said the strike took place at around 3am. Residents reported explosions, and several hours later ammunition continued to detonate as a vast carpet of black smoke engulfed the area.
Ukraine's SBU security service said it had conducted the remote raid against the Marinovka airbase, about 44 miles west of Volgograd, near Kalach-na-Donu. The base houses about 30 Su-34 and Su-35 warplanes.
The planes do regular bombing runs against Ukrainian frontline positions, about 280 miles away, the SBU told the Kyiv Independent newspaper.
It was unclear how many jets were damaged or destroyed. One Russian witness filming the destruction suggested the airfield had been wiped out. "It's a serious tragedy. This is serious stuff," he said.
Ukraine is waging an increasingly ambitious long-range drone campaign against critical Russian infrastructure targets, hitting more than 200. They include oil depots, refineries and arms factories. Last week it struck two airbases: Borisoglebsk, 150 miles inside Russia, and Savasleyka, about 400 miles away.
On Tuesday it launched an attack on Moscow and sent drones to the Arctic Murmansk region, more than 1,000 miles away, where Russian strategic bombers are located. Russia's defence ministry said it had downed all the hostile unmanned aerial vehicles that infiltrated its territory.
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