Irina Pogorelaya22:14, 06.12.22

According to experts, these attacks showed that the Russian air defense forces were significantly weaker than the US military previously believed.

If the strikes inflicted on Russian military bases were carried out by Ukrainian drones, then this indicates that Ukraine is capable of attacking the enemy at a long distance, and Russian air defense systems are much weaker than previously thought.

This opinion was expressed by Western military experts, Voice of America reports . In particular, commenting on Russian reports that Ukrainian forces had carried out strikes on the Engels air base in the Saratov region and on the Diaghilevo airfield near Ryazan, Ben Hodges, an American general and former commander of US forces in Europe, said that Ukraine, given its scientific and technical potential, it may well create drones capable of such an attack.

According to Hodges, the fact that such weapons appeared in the arsenal of the Ukrainian army suggests that Ukrainians, even without Western medium-range weapons, are capable of attacking bases in the occupied Crimea and can release him in the near future.

“If now they are able to hit various bases around Crimea, for example, the Sevastopol airbase and the naval base, then this means, in my opinion, that Russian forces are not able to hold Crimea. After all, apparently, the Ukrainians intend to liberate Crimea before the end of the summer,” – the American general shared his opinion.

Another military expert, retired US Army Major Mike Lyons, also said that the attack on the base in Kursk near the Ukrainian border already on the second day after the attack on the bases in the Saratov region and in Ryazan, if it was really carried out by the Ukrainian military, indicates that that Ukraine is sending a signal that it has the capacity for such attacks. According to him, the attacks were very accurate, although “it is very difficult to hit the target at a distance of 700 km.

According to Lyons, the Russian air defense forces were much weaker than the US military previously believed during the Cold War.

“Going through Russian air defense platforms was simply unheard of during the Cold War. For us, for NATO, it was simply impossible. And also psychologically, the fact that Ukraine can take these drones, technology from the 1970s, get rid of from cameras, other things, and add other features, this gives a very big advantage,” the expert noted. According to him, this means that the Russian military must now protect its military installations, in particular, airfields, deep in the territory of the Russian Federation.

As another military expert, a retired Australian Army Major General and an employee of the Washington Center for Strategic and International Studies, Mick Ryan, “as a result of this strike, Russia may have to reconsider its defensive position”, that is, move strategic bomber airfields much further from the borders. Ukraine.

“There are a lot of airfields, command centers and logistics much closer to Ukraine that are under threat right now,” Ryan said.

In his opinion, this may mean that Ukraine is further holding the initiative in this war, “and they intend to maintain it at every level at which this war is being fought.”

Explosions at military facilities in the Russian Federation

On December 5, Russia reported attacks on the airfield in Dyagilevo, Ryazan Region. A fuel truck exploded there, killing three people and damaging the aircraft.

On the same day, a drone probably attacked an airbase in Engels, Saratov Region. Two Tu-95 strategic bombers were allegedly damaged there, two military men were wounded, and several more were hospitalized. Both objects are located 700 km from the border with Ukraine.

On the night of December 6 in the Bryansk region, according to Russian public, drones attacked the Slava plant, located 80 km from the border with Ukraine. They reportedly fell and exploded 3m from the diesel fuel tanks.

And in Kursk on the same day there was a fire at the airport. According to the governor of the region, as a result of a drone attack, an oil storage tank caught fire in the area of ​​the Kursk airfield.

(C)UNIAN 2022