The Greatest Nuclear Threat

We Face Is a Russian Victory

Putin’s blackmail is dangerous; its
success would be even worse.
By Eric Schlosser January 18, 2023
Anton Petrus / Getty; Getty; Anthony Gerace

On the morning of December 5, 2022, a large explosion

occurred at Engels Air Base, about 500 miles southeast of
Moscow. The airfield is one of the two principal bases in
Russia that host long-range strategic bombers. TU-160
Blackjacks have been taking off from Engels for the past
10 months, carrying cruise missiles and firing them at
cities in Ukraine. The explosion was caused by a Ukrainian
drone, and it reportedly damaged two TU-95 Bears,
enormous turbo-prop bombers that have been a symbol
of the Kremlin’s airpower since the early 1950s. Most of
the reporting on the drone attack focused on the boldness
of it, the failure of Russian air defenses, and the impact on
Russian morale. But the attack had a broader significance
that went largely unnoticed.

About four miles from the runway at Engels where the

explosion occurred, a pair of underground bunkers is likely
to contain nuclear warheads, with a capacity to store
hundreds of them. Blackjacks and Bears were designed
during the Cold War for nuclear strikes on NATO
countries, and they still play that role in Russian war plans.
The drone attack on Engels was a milestone in military
history: the world’s first aerial assault on a nuclear base.
There was little chance of a nuclear detonation, even from
a direct hit on the heavily fortified bunkers. Nevertheless,
the presence of nuclear warheads at a base routinely
used by Russian bombers for attacks on Ukraine is a
reminder of how dangerous this war remains. On
December 26, Engels was struck by another Ukrainian
drone, which killed three servicemen.

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