Ukrainian drone kills three at Russian military base, Moscow says
Three military personnel were killed by the wreckage of a Ukrainian drone at an airbase deep inside Russia, Moscow has said.
The drone was shot down at around 1.35am on Boxing Day, as it approached the Engels airfield in the Saratov region, with falling debris killing the trio, Russian news agency Ria Novosti says.
It is the second time the airbase has been targeted this month, raising questions about the effectiveness of Russia's air defence system if drones can fly that far into the country.
However, it wasn't immediately clear whether the drone had been launched from Ukraine or within Russian territory.
Engles, which houses the Tu-95 and Tu-160 nuclear-capable strategic bombers involved in launching strikes on Ukraine, is located more than 600 kilometres east of the Ukrainian border.
Russia's defence ministry said no aircraft was damaged, but Russian news outlet Baza reported that four people were wounded and that a fire had started, sharing a video on its Telegram channel showing explosions, sirens and flashes.
Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat, speaking to Ukrainian television on Monday, did not directly acknowledge his country’s involvement in Monday’s incident, but said: “These are the consequences of Russian aggression.”
He added: “If the Russians thought that the war would not affect them in the deep rear, they were deeply mistaken” Ukrainian officials have never confirmed sending drones into Russia. They have maintained ambiguity over previous high-profile attacks, including drone strikes on Russian military bases earlier this month.
On December 5, strikes on Engels and the Dyagilevo base in the Ryazan region in western Russia killed a total of three servicemen and wounded four more.
The attacks on the airbases were followed by a massive retaliatory missile barrage in Ukraine that struck homes and buildings and killed civilians.
Russia has suffered numerous cross-border attacks during the war on its main territory, as well as on the Crimean Peninsula, which it illegally annexed in 2014.
The incidents have outraged Russian military bloggers who say they show the country’s weak air defenses and security systems in general.
In another cross-border incident that couldn't be independently confirmed, Russia's Tass news agency reported today that the country's security forces had killed four Ukrainian saboteurs attempting to enter the Bryansk region from Ukraine.
The report claimed the infiltrators carried explosive materials when they were caught on Christmas Day.
In Ukraine, the night from Sunday into Monday appeared unusually quiet.
For the first time in weeks, the Russian forces didn't shell the Dnipropetrovsk region, which borders the partially occupied southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, its govenor Valentyn Reznichenko reported on Telegram.
“This is the third quiet night in 5.5 months since the Russians started shelling" he wrote.
Nikopol is located across the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is under control of the Russian forces.
Ukrainian-controlled areas of the neighbouring Kherson region were shelled 33 times over the past 24 hours, according to Kherson's Ukrainian Governor Yaroslav Yanushevich, but there were no casualties.
On Saturday, a deadly attack on the city of Kherson, which was retaken by Kyiv's forces last month, killed and wounded scores of people.
November saw Ukraine make a number of gains as its forces retook occupied territory in a winter counter-offensive.
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The UK's Ministry of Defence said on Monday that Russian forces have "largely focused on constructing defensive positions along many sections of the front line of Ukraine since October".
This includes laying additional fields of anti-tank and anti-personnel mines, "almost certainly going beyond Russian doctrinal guidelines", the MoD reported.
It added: "Minefields only present an effective obstacle for trained troops if covered by observation and fire.
"A major challenge for the Russian forces will likely be a shortage of surveillance assets and trained personnel to effectively monitor large areas of the new minefields."