Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Sunday that Ukrainian drones attacked airfields in five regions and that several aircraft had caught fire.According to The New York Times, the Russian Defense Ministry announced on Sunday that Ukrainian drones had launched attacks on airfields in five different regions, resulting in several aircraft catching fire. This was part of a coordinated operation by Ukraine, targeting sites from eastern Siberia to Russia’s western border.
The attacks on Russian airfields came as Ukraine suffered a damaging blow of its own on Sunday, with Russia striking a Ukrainian military training base and killing at least 12 soldiers. This escalation of violence between the two adversaries comes just before they are expected to sit down for another round of cease-fire negotiations on Monday in Istanbul.
The Russian Defense Ministry stated that the Ukrainian drones had attacked airfields in five regions across five different time zones. The regions of Murmansk, near the border with Norway, and Irkutsk, in eastern Siberia, were specifically mentioned, with the ministry reporting that several aircraft caught fire. The other attacks were reportedly repelled with no casualties.
The attack on the Belaya air base in Irkutsk was the first time that any place in Siberia had been targeted by Ukrainian drones since the war began in February 2022. The Olenya base in the Murmansk region, which hosts nuclear-capable aircraft, was also attacked.
However, the details in the Russian Defense Ministry’s statement have not been independently verified. This statement was released just hours after an official from Ukraine’s security services, known as the S.B.U., claimed that a large-scale drone operation was underway targeting airfields in four Russian regions. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, stated that dozens of aircraft had been damaged in the strikes. However, this claim has not been confirmed by any other sources.
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