Two Russian air bases were the target of attacks on Monday. On Tuesday, a military aerodrome was also affected. Even if they have not been claimed by kyiv, these attacks have been a first since the start of the war.
by Elise Vincent and Cédric PIETRAULUGA
The news caused surprise in military circles. Monday, December 5, two Russian air bases, located approximately 500 and 600 kilometers from Ukraine, were the target of attacks, damaging at least two heavy bombers. “The kyiv regime, in order to put out of harm to harm Russian long -range Russian planes, has attempted strikes of Soviet manufacturing drones against the military aerodromes of Diageyo, in the Riazan region, and Engels, in the Saratov region, “said the Russian Defense Ministry in a statement published on Monday evening, deploring the death of three soldiers. Another Russian military aerodrome, located in Koursk, was also attacked Tuesday, December 6, without causing victims.
Even if they have not been claimed by kyiv, these attacks have been a first since the entrance to the troops of Vladimir Putin in Ukrainian territory, almost ten months ago. If they have regularly struck targets on the other side of their border, especially in the Belgorod region, kyiv’s forces had never achieved objectives that are so far in Russian territory. By way of comparison, the city of Moscow is less than 500 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, within reach of the projectiles that hit Russian military aerodromes on Monday.
According to different sources, these attacks could have been carried out by Tupolev Tu-141, recognition drones used by the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s, of which Ukraine would have kept several units after its independence. Of a theoretical range of 1,000 kilometers, these devices, of which 150 copies were said to have been manufactured by the USSR, may have been equipped by kyiv with a GPS guidance system and an explosive load, in order to transform them into Kamikazes drones. Others evoke the hypothesis of a projectile manufactured by UkroBoronProm, the largest Ukrainian military conglomerate. In October, the industrialist announced to finish the development of a drone with a range of 1,000 kilometers and with a 75 kg warhead.
Ukraine plunged in darkness and cold
Whatever the projectile used, these attacks mark the will of the Ukrainian authorities to hinder the strikes carried out since the start of fall by Moscow on the country’s civil infrastructure. The effects of these bombings, devastating for water or electricity supply networks, threaten to plunge Ukraine into darkness and cold. “Ukraine adopts more active measures to reduce and prevent Russian missile strikes on its citizens and infrastructure. It is a logical sequence,” said the Australian retirement division Mick Ryan, in a published analysis On Twitter Monday.
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