Three soldiers died
Moscow: Kyiv attacked airfields with “reactive drones”
12/05/2022, 7:04 p.m
The Kremlin blames Ukraine for the attack on two air bases in central Russia. The aim was the destruction of long-haul aircraft. However, the damage appears to be limited.
According to the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin has been informed of incidents at two air bases of the Russian armed forces in the Saratov and Ryazan regions in central Russia. “The President regularly receives information coming from the relevant authorities about everything that is going on,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists without giving further details. He stated that any further questions should be directed to the Department of Defense.
Russia blames Ukraine for the attacks. The Defense Ministry in Moscow said in the evening: “On the morning of December 5, the Kiev regime attempted to use Soviet-made reactive drones to attack the airfields ‘Dyagilyevo’ in the Ryazan region and ‘Engels’ in the Saratov region in order to disable Russian long-haul aircraft to put.” Previously, Kyiv had already indicated participation.
In Ukraine, the incidents were mentioned only in passing. “If something is shot down into the airspace of other countries, sooner or later unidentified flying objects will return to the starting point,” Ukrainian Presidential Advisor Mykhailo Podolyak wrote in a tweet.
The Russian military confirmed that three soldiers were killed and four others hospitalized with injuries. However, the long-range bombers were only slightly damaged, also thanks to the use of anti-aircraft defenses.
In the afternoon, Russia launched another heavy rocket attack on Ukraine. While Kyiv subsequently announced that most of the missiles had been intercepted, Moscow declared the attack a success. “The target of the strike is accomplished. All 17 named targets have been hit.” The information cannot be verified independently.