Moscow accuses Kiev of pushing hundreds of miles into Russia to attack two air bases

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A Zelensky adviser frames it in a special military operation, the first so far from the front

The Kremlin accused Ukraine on Monday of attacking two Russian air bases hundreds of miles from the war front. It would be the most far-reaching attack to date by troops from Kiev, in the heart of Russia. The incidents killed three Russian soldiers and damaged two aircraft.

The Defense Ministry confirmed the attack in the early afternoon. According to his version, released in a statement, Kiev used drones flying at low altitudes to “take out of service the Russian long-range aircraft” used in the massive bombings of recent weeks. However, the devices were intercepted by the Russian anti-aircraft systems, so the remnants of the drones fell on the grounds of the attacked air bases, causing the explosions.

The first of these took place at Diaghilevo airfield, located in Ryazan Oblast, about 200 kilometers from Moscow. It happened in a parking lot and hit a tanker truck. Three soldiers were killed in the attack, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed. Iliushin-76 tankers are deployed at this base.

The second explosion occurred near the town of Engels, in Saratov Oblast, more than 700 kilometers from the border with Ukraine. No fatalities were reported, but two Tu-95 strategic bombers, part of the Russian deterrent forces, were destroyed. According to authorities in the region, no civilian infrastructure was damaged. “I want to assure you that there has not been an emergency in residential areas of the city. There are no reasons for concern. No civilian infrastructure was damaged,” the region’s governor, Román Busarguín, wrote on Telegram.

Kiev remained silent on the episode on Monday. But a presidential adviser did hint at his authorship. “If you launch things into the airspace of other countries too often, unknown flying objects will sooner or later return to the place of departure,” Mikhailo Podoliak wrote on Twitter.

A few hours after the explosions were recorded, Moscow launched a large-scale strike against Ukrainian targets across the country, following the example of attacks against energy infrastructure and civilian targets in recent months. All this only exacerbates the situation of the population. With the arrival of the cold, the energy crisis is a problem of the first order, to which must be added the constant interruptions of water and electricity.

The most serious incident took place this Monday in the south of Ukraine, in Zaporizhia, where local authorities said at least two people were killed. Attacks were also reported in Odessa, Cherkasi, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Poltava. For its part, the state-owned company Ukrenergo reported that the bombings also affected electricity infrastructure.

Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky assured that air defenses have shot down most of the Russian missiles, “60 out of 70”. However, the Kremlin claimed that “every one of the seventeen targets was hit”.

The Ukrainian attack is the most drastic carried out by Kiev’s forces. To date, they had only crossed the border once. Last August, a bombing raid destroyed several aircraft at the military airfield of Saki, on the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014 through a referendum that the international community has not recognized. The scope of action that takes the war straight to the heart of Russia remains to be seen.

On the other hand, Moldovan border police on Monday discovered a missile dropped in the north of the country, near the border with Ukraine, just a few weeks after another projectile fell in Poland. The security forces, which indicated that the object was “found by the border patrol in a garden of a house”, explained in a statement that the find took place in the town of Briceni.

The border service cordoned off the area where the missile was found pending action. For now, authorities have “intensified patrols and raised the alert level” in the affected area, Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita explained on Twitter.

At the end of October, the remains of a Russian missile shot down by the Ukrainian air force fell on Moldovan territory. The country has also repeatedly denounced the violation of its airspace by Russian aircraft.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday visited the Crimean Bridge, partially destroyed by an October explosion, on his first visit to the 2014-annexed peninsula since the Ukrainian offensive began. It is also the president’s first move to a place directly affected by the war. The Russian presidency published a video showing Putin at the wheel of a vehicle driving around the bridge connecting Russian territory to the peninsula.

The viaduct was damaged in October by a powerful explosion, which Russian authorities blamed on Ukrainian forces. According to the Kremlin, the attack was carried out through a complex international network. The explosive charge entered Russian territory through Bulgaria, Armenia and Georgia, and was later smuggled in in a shipment of film reels sent to a false address in Crimea. Kiev never claimed responsibility for the attack.

Source: La Verdad

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