Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Ukraine said Sunday it launched a “large-scale” attack to destroy Russian bombers as it geared up for talks in Istanbul with Moscow counterparts to explore prospects of a ceasefire.
The spectacular claim that Ukraine damaged $2 billion worth of Russian aircraft parked at airbases thousands of kilometres (miles) away came as Kyiv announced a Russian military strike killed at least 12 soldiers at an army training site, leading to the resignation of its ground forces commander.
A source with Ukraine’s SBU security service said the coordinated attacks inside Russia were “aimed at destroying enemy bombers far from the front”.
The source said Russian airbases in the eastern Siberian city of Belaya, in Olenya, up in the Arctic near Finland, and in Ivanovo and Dyagilevo, both east of Moscow, had been targeted.
More than 40 aircraft had been hit at the Belaya base, and a fire had broken out there, the source said, showing a video in which several aircraft could be seen in flames and black smoke rising.
AFP was not able to independently verify the claims or the video images.
But the governor of Russia’s Irkutsk region, which hosts the Belaya airbase, spoke of a “drone attack” against a village adjacent to the airbase.
“It’s the first attack of this sort in Siberia,” the governor, Igor Kobzev, said, calling on the population to not panic. He posted an amateur video apparently showing a drone flying in the sky, and a large cloud of grey smoke.
The governor of the Murmansk region where the Olenya base was located, Andrey Chibis, also said “enemy drones” were flying overhead, and anti-aircraft defences were operating.
Russia has been announcing Ukrainian drone attacks on a near daily basis, usually saying they had all been shot down. But it was rare for such drone strikes to be reported so deep within its territory.