By REUTERS, JERUSALEM POST STAFF

Published: DECEMBER 26, 2022 02:21 Updated: DECEMBER 26, 2022 03:03

Air raid sirens were wailing and an explosion was heard, Russian news outlet Baza reported, citing local residents.

Blasts were heard at Russia‘s Engels air base, hundreds of kilometers (miles) from the frontlines in Ukraine, Ukrainian and Russian media outlets reported early on Monday.

There was no immediate official confirmation of the blasts and Reuters was not able to independently verify the reports.

The RBC-Ukraine news agency reported that two explosions took place.

The Russian news outlet Baza reported, citing local residents, that air raid sirens were wailing and an explosion was heard.

A Russian officer takes a picture of a TU-95 bomber, or Bear, at a military airbase in Engels some 900 km (559 miles) south of Moscow, August 7, 2008. (credit: REUTERS/SERGEI KARPUKHIN)

Previous attacks against Russian and Russian-occupied targets

The air base, near the city of Saratov, about 730 km (450 miles) southeast of Moscow, was hit on Dec. 5 in what Russia said was Ukrainian drone attacks on two Russian air bases that day.

Two weeks ago, Ukraine launched missiles at targets in the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol in southeastern Ukraine, killing two people and injuring 10 others, Reuters reported, citing reports by pro-Russian authorities.

The report also cited Oleksiy Arestovych, an advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as saying that the city, a major transportation and industrial hub, is critical to the defense of southern Ukraine.

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-725813