A drone strike hit another Russian airbase this week following reports of Ukraine’s capability to penetrate Russian airspace. The reports followed an attack on two previous Russian airbases.
A drone strike hit what would be the third Russian airbase Tuesday in the Russian city of Kursk, 90 kilometers north of its border with Ukraine. Officials in Kursk shared photos showing black smoke in an airfield shortly after the latest strike. The regional governor said an oil storage tank went up in flames, but there were no casualties.
Tuesday’s strike follows Monday’s when Russia said it was hit hundreds of kilometers from Ukraine by what Moscow described as Soviet-era drones at the Engels air base. The Engels air base is where Russia’s strategic bomber fleet is located, as well as Ryazan, which is hours away from Moscow.
The Russian defense ministry said that three service members were killed in the strike in Ryazan. While the attacks hit military targets, Moscow said the strikes were an act of “terrorism” and that the aim was to disable its long-range aircraft.
A report by the New York Times said the drones launched at Russian air bases came from Ukrainian territory, and at least one of the strikes was carried out by special forces that were close to the Russian base.
While Ukraine did not claim responsibility for the strikes, Kyiv has celebrated them. Ukrainian defense minister Oleksii Reznikov repeated a long-running joke that carelessness with cigarettes was to blame.
“Very often Russians smoke in places where it’s forbidden to smoke,” said Reznikov.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Olekskiy Arestovych added that the Engels base is the only base in Russia that is fully equipped with the fleet of bombers that are used to attack Ukraine.
The British defense ministry in its intelligence bulletin on the same day, said that should Russia determine that the strikes were deliberate, it would be considered a strategic failure of its force protection since invading Ukraine back in February. The ministry noted that the Engels base is 600 kilometers from Ukrainian territory.
In its latest intelligence bulletin, the ministry said that Russian forces are extending their defensive positions along the border it shares with Ukraine and into the Belgorod region. The ministry noted that the mayor of Belgorod announced that he would be creating “self-defense units”, with trench digging having begun since April in the area.