Explosions took place to two Russian airbases on Monday just hours before Ukrainian officials accused Russia of launching a “massive missile attack”. During the attack three people were reportedly killed and six injured after a fuel tanker exploded at a Russian airfield near the city of Ryazan, southeast of Moscow. Another blast allegedly occurred in Russia’s Saratov region along the Volga river, far from the frontlines. The Russian defence minister confirmed the attacks, blaming them on Ukraine and saying two warplanes were damaged. For Kyiv the strike represented an unprecendented operation deep inside Russia to disrupt the Kremlin strategy of provoking a humanitarian catastrophe in Ukraine on the verge of winter.
Two Tu-95 long-range strategic nuclear bombers were damaged by a drone that fell on the runway at the Engels airfields in western Russia’s Saratov region, the Astra Telegram news channel reported, citing unnamed sources.
Two soldiers were said to have been hospitalized after suffering various injuries.
Engels serves as a base for Tu-95 and Tu-160 nuclear-capable strategic bombers and is located 500 kilometers east of Ukraine’s border.
Soon after the blasts at the air bases, Russia launched a long anticipated mass strike against Ukraine, involving air and sea launched missiles from both the Black and Caspian Seas. Ukraine claimed to have shot down 60 of a total of 70 incoming missiles, a new record in the effectiveness of its air defence systems. The Russian defence ministry claimed to have hit 17 targets.
In Kyiv, air raid sirens sounded, and people took shelter in underground metro stations, but no missiles hit the capital, and after three hours the all clear was sounded. The strikes plunged some parts of the country into blackout at a time when temperatures are well below zero, but they appeared to have been significantly less successful is disrupting the Ukrainian power grid than the previous Russian mass missile attack on 23 November.
