During the night, the German Luftwaffe destroyed several U.S. bombers on the ground of Poltava Airbase in Ukraine. The U.S. bombers, of the 452nd Bomb Group, had arrived from United Kingdom as part of a ‘shuttle’ mission (aka Shuttle Raid).
The attack took place on 21JUN1944. Interestingly, the U.S. Army’s 8th Air Force claims they did not receive the photo negatives until December 1945, the photos of the destroyed B-17s were not even released in the United States until 22JUL1949, kept secret years after the war ended by the U.S. Air Force Historical Office!
The 8th Air Force was using Poltava Airbase as a rest & recovery area for its bombers and crews, after conducting bombing missions against Germany, and other targets in Eastern Europe, during the Second World War.
According to the Historical Museum of the U.S. Air Force, 21JUN1944 was also the first time B-17s were used for Shuttle Raids. I did find a photo dated April 1944 showing a B-17 on Poltava, but it doesn’t indicate if it was taking part in a Shuttle Raid.
U.S. Army Air Force crewmen stand next to a Soviet soldier, the day after the German airstrike.
During World War Two, Ukraine was one of the dozens of republics who were part of the Soviet Union, as was Russia.
U.S. Army Air Force personnel gaze at a portrait of Stalin, 04JUN1944.
Joseph Stalin was the leader of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and at the beginning of 1944 U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt convinced Stalin to allow U.S. combat aircraft to land in the Soviet Union.
A Soviet solder, based on Poltava, painted portraits of Stalin and Roosevelt, completed on 28DEC1944.
1939 V 2019; GERMANY INVADES POLAND AGAIN, THIS TIME WITH THE HELP OF NATO!
Recovery Ops: 
DKM PRINZ EUGEN 2018, OR THE NINE ANCHORS