Savasleyka is a selo in the Kulebaksky Urban District of Nizhny Novgorod Region, on the territory of which the eponymous air base is located — a branch of the 4th State Center for Aviation Personnel Training and Military Testing of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (formerly the 4th Center for Combat Employment and Aircrew Retraining of the Russian Air Force). The air base is situated 12 km northwest of Kulebaki and has been operational since 1953. The selo stands on the bank of the Veletyma River, 16 km northwest of Kulebaki, near the Vladimir–Murom–Arzamas highway. The name is of Erzya origin: the element "ley" means "river," "stream," or "ravine." In the tax registers of 1676, the village of Sevasleyka is mentioned as part of the parish of the selo of Okulovo and comprised 22 peasant households; by 1710 it was already recorded as a selo with the Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit in the patrimony of the boyar prince Mikhail Cherkasky. In 1848, at the expense of the local landowner Count S. S. Uvarov, a stone church with three altars was erected in the selo — in memory of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, in honor of the Archangel Michael, and of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. At the end of the 19th century the parish comprised 179 households (634 men and 681 women); the selo had a zemstvo public school in which 68 pupils were enrolled in 1896.[1][1]
Air Base
The facility was established in 1953 as a training center for aviation personnel of Warsaw Pact countries. Pilots from Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Cuba came to train at the Savasleyka air base — all aircrew of countries allied with the USSR received their training here.[2] In 1959 the center ceased operations in its original capacity: in August of that year, the first flying prototypes of the top-secret jet fighter Su-9 (then designated T-3) appeared here for trials. As of 2012, the base was home to a squadron of MiG-31 aircraft of various modifications, as well as Su-34 aircraft, military transport aviation aircraft — Il-76 (Il-78), An-26, An-72, An-12, the training Tu-134UBL; Ka-52, Mi-8, and transport Mi-26 helicopters were also based there. The pilot retraining course at Savasleyka includes a theoretical component with an examination and at least 15 hours of simulator flight time; the total duration of training ranges from two to six months. The air base operates two full-function flight simulators replicating a fighter cockpit: the first was delivered in 2012, the second in 2016.[2][1]
Drone Attack in August 2026
In the early hours of 6 August 2026, during a series of drone attacks on Nizhny Novgorod Region, one UAV, suppressed by electronic warfare systems, crashed into a tree in the selo of Savasleyka. Fragments sent flying by the impact caused a fire in an apartment of a residential building; three adults and a child were injured, and all received medical assistance. The fire was extinguished and no other damage was recorded. Governor Gleb Nikitin stated that the lives and health of all four casualties were not in danger, and that the authorities would provide assistance to residents whose homes had been damaged.[3] The incident was reported by Gleb Nikitin.
Series of drone attacks on the Nizhny Novgorod region in early August 2026
According to Governor Gleb Nikitin, the drone's warhead detonated upon impact with the tree: the explosion of the warhead produced the fragments that damaged the apartment of a residential building in Savasleyka.[4]
Sources
- Wikipedia (ru) — Savasleyka — The selo stands on the bank of the Veletyma River, 16 km northwest of Kulebaki, near the Vladimir–Murom–Arzamas highway. (archive)
- KP — Nizhny Novgorod — The best fighter pilots are trained at the Savasleyka air base near Nizhny (archive)
- MK — Nizhny Novgorod — According to Nizhny Novgorod Region Governor Gleb Nikitin, the drone's warhead detonated upon impact with… (archive)
- Wikipedia (ru) — Savasleyka (air base) (archive)