Thanks to a long-range strike today, on the night of January 8, a rather specific military facility of strategic importance was successfully hit. This concerns the state reserve storage "Kombinat Krytsall," where fuel for the Russian strategic aviation base "Engels" is stored.
The footage from the scene shows a significant fire engulfing part of the storage tanks. Local authorities also confirm the successful strike on the facility by Ukrainian long-range drones.
When it comes to the fuel for the aircraft based at the "Engels" airbase, we are referring to the strategic bombers Tu-95MS and Tu-160 of the 22nd Heavy Bomber Aviation Division. While the Tu-95MS uses standard types of aviation fuel (T-1, TS, RT), the Tu-160 requires a rather specific high-density fuel grade T-8V.
By the way, this particular fuel produces a very distinct rich yellow color in the exhaust of the four NK-32 engines of the Tu-160, for which T-8V was created.
The production of this fuel is quite a specific process, carried out at only a few oil refineries. Unfortunately, information about its production in Russia has not been found, but during the Soviet era, high-density fuels were produced only at petrochemical plants in Angarsk (now "Angarsk Oil Chemical Company") and Orsk (now "Orsknefteorgsintez").
Thus, if the tanks storing T-8V fuel for the Tu-160 were successfully hit, it may somewhat "ground" these machines and reduce their operational activity by the enemy. However, objectively, Russia has hardly used the Tu-160 for strikes against Ukraine. Notably, the last time the enemy used them was during an attack on November 17, 2024, which was the first time in 550 days.