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The Russian military reported Monday that it shot down a Ukrainian drone approaching an airbase deep inside Russia, the second time the facility has been targeted this month again revealing weaknesses in Russia’s air defences.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said debris killed three servicemen at the Engels airbase, which houses Tu-95 and Tu-160 nuclear-capable strategic bombers that have launched strikes on Ukraine in the 10-month-old war.
Russia’s Baza news outlet reported that four people were wounded and said a fire had broken out, with explosions, sirens and flashes on a video it posted on its Telegram channel.
The Defense Ministry claimed no Russian aircraft were damaged.
It wasn’t clear whether the drones had been launched from Ukraine or Russian territory.
Engels is located in Russia’s Saratov region on the Volga River, more than 600 kilometers (370 miles) east of the border with Ukraine.
In keeping with the Kyiv government’s long-standing practice of not confirming cross-border attacks but welcoming their results, Ukrainian air force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat didn’t directly acknowledge his country’s involvement in Monday’s incident in an interview on Ukrainian television, but said: These are the consequences of Russian aggression.»
He added: «If the Russians thought that the war wouldn’t affect them deep behind their lines, they were deeply mistaken.
Russia has suffered numerous cross-border attacks during the war on its main territory, as well as on the Crimean Peninsula, which it illegally annexed in 2014. The incidents have outraged Russian military bloggers who say they show the country’s weak air defences and security systems in general.
In another cross-border incident that couldn’t be independently confirmed, Russia’s Tass news agency reported Monday that the country’s security forces had killed four Ukrainian saboteurs attempting to enter the Bryansk region from Ukraine.
