Ukraine has shown that it is still capable of surprise attacks more than nine months after the start of the Russian invasion. On Monday, the Ukrainian military targeted targets hundreds of kilometers behind the border, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
An anonymous source from Kyiv confirmed the attacks to the New York Times. The Ukrainian government is silent on this. Russia responded with renewed rocket fire at its neighbor.
“On the morning of December 5, the Kiev regime tried to use Soviet-made reactive drones to attack the airfields of Diagilyevo in the Ryazan region and Engels in the Saratov region in order to disable long-haul Russian aircraft,” the ministry said on Monday Moscow. The high-ranking Ukrainian official, quoted by the New York Times, also says that military special forces on the ground in Russia are said to have coordinated the attacks on the bases.
Another drone is said to have attacked an airfield in the Kursk region of Russia, which borders Ukraine. As a result of the shelling “in the vicinity of Kursk airfield, an oil tank caught fire,” local governor Roman Starovoyt said in the online networks on Tuesday. “There were no victims.” An attempt is being made to contain the fire. The governor did not provide any information on where the drone came from.
Images from a surveillance camera near the Engels base show a fireball at night. Two photos were also published on Telegram showing a damaged Russian bomber and a damaged truck in front of an apparently hit plane. The authenticity of the images could not be verified.
The British Ministry of Defense rates the explosions at the airports as a serious blow, according to the current situation report on Twitter. The British do not yet want to commit themselves to the fact that this is a Ukrainian attack. But if that proves true, it will be “probably one of the most strategically significant omissions in protecting one’s own armed forces since his invasion of Ukraine.”
Speculations about deployed drones
Russian military blogger Alexander Kots shared on Telegram the suspicion that the base in south-eastern Russia was attacked by Soviet Tupolev M-141 drones, military analyst Rob Lee wrote on Twitter. The technology dates back to the 1970s, Lee continues.
If the Russian military can’t counter such a drone, “it bodes ill for the country’s ability to prevent a massive cruise missile attack,” Lee said. The Russian air defense forces would probably have to face “some serious questions”. The British Ministry of Defense expects “strict sanctions” against officers who can be shown to have failed.
The Russian military said it was partly thanks to the anti-aircraft defense that the long-range bombers stationed at the bases suffered only minor damage. The British assume that two Tupolev Tu-95 bombers were damaged in Engels. Three soldiers were killed by falling debris at the Diagilyevo military airfield, sources in Russia said. Four others were injured and taken to hospitals. Again, this information cannot be independently verified.
The Ukrainian government initially did not want to acknowledge the attacks deep within the territory of the Russian Federation. Mykhailo Podoliak, advisor to President Volodymyr Zelnskyj, simply wrote on Twitter: “The earth is round – discovery of Galileo. (…) If something is launched into the airspace of other countries, sooner or later unknown flying objects will return to the starting point.”
Attack targets are 500 kilometers inside Russia
The Diagilyevo military airfield is more than 550 kilometers from the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and less than 200 kilometers from the Russian capital. From the Engels base, about 500 kilometers from the Ukrainian border and 160 kilometers from the Kazakh border, fighter planes and bombers are said to have repeatedly fired on targets in Ukraine. Tupolev-160 and Tupolev-95 aircraft capable of carrying nuclear warheads are said to be stationed there, according to the New York Times.
Russia responded to the attacks on its own soil with renewed large-scale rocket fire at Ukrainian targets. According to the Kremlin, 17 targets were hit. The Ukrainian military announced the launch of 60 to 70 rockets. They are said to have been fired from the Black and Caspian Seas, writes the “mirror”. The “New York Times” also reports on aircraft take-offs at the Engels base, which had previously been attacked.
Russian military bloggers responded to the attacks with “anger at the incompetence of the Russian military.” That’s what the military analysts of the US think tank write Institute For The Study Of War (ISW) in their daily situation report. Some bloggers have accused the military of “not adequately protecting” the bases. Other bloggers’ anger was directed at Russian officials who failed to adequately defend the bases despite knowing they could be clear targets for Ukrainian attacks.
The mostly pro-war military bloggers also called on the military to “severely retaliate against Ukraine,” writes the ISW. One should also “strengthen counter-terrorism measures on Russian territory”. (with agencies)