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Moment Ukraine blows up secretive Russian laser plane as rare A-60 Soviet space weapon engulfed in flames at air base
THIS is the moment Ukraine torched one of Russia’s most secretive weapons in an overnight strike that ripped through one of the Kremlin’s main aviation hubs.
Footage shows the rare A-60 laser aircraft engulfed in fireballs at the Taganrog aviation complex in Rostov after explosions pounded the site.
The military-industrial zone serves as Russia’s test bed for special-purpose aircraft.
Regional officials said three people were killed as blasts tore through warehouses, industrial buildings and nearby apartment blocks.
The A-60, one of only two prototypes born of Soviet-era megawatt-class laser trials, had sat at Taganrog for two decades.
Built on the Il-76MD transport frame, it carried a nose radome, a retractable rear laser turret and twin 2.1-megawatt generators slotted by the landing gear.
Its system was designed to fire for 50 seconds at targets roughly 25 miles away, with tests once been carried out on balloons and even a target aircraft.
Ukrainian strikes also reportedly ignited a hangar used to upgrade strategic bombers to carry extra Kh-101 cruise missiles.
Local channels suggested the intended target may have been an S-400 unit.
In Novorossiysk, officials said six people were injured and 20 homes damaged in a Ukrainian drone barrage.
Kyiv said multiple units had coordinated hits on “strategic objects” in Russia using UAVs and Neptune cruise missiles, including successful strikes on the Tuapse oil refinery and the Sheskharis oil terminal.
Moscow answered with another punishing wave.
Ukraine’s energy ministry said Russia launched a “massive combined attack” across the Kyiv, Odesa, Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv regions with Shahed drones and Kinzhal ballistic missiles.
Six people were killed and 14 injured in the capital as missiles smashed into residential blocks, triggering fires and knocking out power to tens of thousands.
Russian UAVs also violated Moldovan and Romanian airspace, prompting Bucharest to scramble Eurofighters and F-16s.
The escalation comes as US and Russian delegations met in Abu Dhabi for talks aimed at nailing down a peace plan to end the war in Ukraine.
President Donald Trump has since dispatched his inner circle on a two-front diplomatic sprint.
He sent his trusted envoy Steve Witkoff back to Moscow and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to Kyiv.
Trump said: “There are only a few remaining points of disagreement.”
He added he would be briefed by Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
In his latest Truth Social post, Don said he hopes to meet with Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin “only when the deal to end this War is final or, in its final stages.”
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