12/6/22

Russia is likely to punish its officers who are deemed responsible for allowing Monday’s drone attacks on its airfields to happen, Britain’s Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.

The Kremlin has blamed Ukraine for the strikes on two Russian air bases—at the Engels-2 air base in Saratov located some 600 kilometers (about 375 miles) east of Ukraine, and near the city of Ryazan, southeast of Moscow.

Kyiv hasn’t claimed responsibility for the attacks but has celebrated them. The New York Times cited a senior Ukrainian official on Monday as saying that the drones used in the strikes were launched from Ukrainian territory. Newsweek has contacted the country’s Foreign Ministry.

“If Russia assesses the incidents were deliberate attacks, it will probably consider them as some of the most strategically significant failures of force protection since its invasion of Ukraine,” the U.K. ministry said in its daily intelligence update on the war in Ukraine.

The ministry said the Russian chain of command will probably seek to identify and impose severe sanctions on Russian officers deemed responsible for allowing the incidents.

Russia’s Defense Ministry accused Ukraine on Monday of carrying out the two attacks with Soviet-era jet drones “in order to disable Russian long-range aircraft.”

The department said two aircraft were damaged as a result of the strikes, while three Russian military personnel were killed and four more were wounded.

“The air defense of the Russian Aerospace Forces intercepted these Ukrainian drones flying at low altitude,” it said.

A third Russian airfield was reportedly targeted in a drone attack on Tuesday morning, according to local officials.

Roman Starovoyt, governor of the Kursk region near the northeastern Ukrainian border, said an oil tanker caught fire at an airbase in the region, but didn’t immediately blame Ukraine for the attack.

“There were no casualties. The fire is localized. All intelligence agencies are on site,” Starovoyt wrote on his Telegram channel, adding that he had convened a meeting of the “anti-terrorist commission” and that the level of terrorist danger in Kursk would remain at a high or “yellow” level for 15 days.

Baza, a Russian Telegram channel that regularly posts information about security issues within the country, also reported on Tuesday that a facility in the Bryansk region near the northern Ukraine border was struck by drones.

Mykhailo Podolyak, a politician, journalist and negotiator who serves as adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, appeared to hint on Monday that Ukraine was able to attack distant targets.

“If something is launched into the airspace of other countries, sooner or later unknown flying objects will return to the departure point,” he tweeted.

Newsweek has contacted Russia’s defense and foreign ministries for comment.

https://www.newsweek.com/russia-punish-officers-ukraine-drone-attacks-uk-1764922