In the second Ukrainian drone attack on a Russian military airbase in the city of Engels in a month, three Russian servicemen died reportedly as a result of falling debris after the Kremlin shot the drone down and took it off-course.
The military airport of the Russian city of Engels, a city in the southwestern Saratov region more than 600 kilometres from the Ukrainian border, was hit by a Ukrainian drone attack for the second time this month in the early hours of Monday. According to the Russian state news agency TASS and the Defence Ministry, three servicemen who were working as technicians at the airbase were killed.
The airbase houses the Tu-95 and Tu-160 nuclear-capable strategic bombers that have been involved in launching strikes on Ukraine. While the Russian Defence Ministry claims that no equipment was damaged, Ukrainian social media posts state that some aircraft reportedly did suffer damage.
Importantly, Western media have not been able to independently verify the Kremlin's claims. It also remains unclear whether the drone was shot down or effectively hit its intended target.
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As this is the second time that the Engels airbase has been targeted this month, questions are rising about the effectiveness of Russia's air defences if drones can fly that far into the country.
In the meantime, Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat did not directly acknowledge any involvement by Ukraine in the incident but said that the explosions are the "consequences of Russian aggression" when speaking on Ukrainian television on Monday. "If the Russians thought that the war would not affect them in the deep rear, they were deeply mistaken."
However, Ukrainian officials did not confirm they sent the drones into Russia now or during strikes on Russian military bases earlier this month. The previous strike on the Engels and the Dyagilevo bases, on 5 December, reportedly also killed three servicemen, and injured another four.
