A third Russian airfield was set ablaze by a drone strike a day after Ukraine demonstrated an apparent new ability to penetrate hundreds of kilometers into Russia with attacks on two air bases.
Officials in the Russian city of Kursk, about 90 km (60 miles) north of the Ukraine border, released pictures of black smoke above an airfield after the latest strike on Tuesday. The governor said an oil storage tank had gone up in flames but there were no casualties.
On Monday, Russia said it had been hit hundreds of kilometers from Ukraine by what it said were Soviet-era drones – at Engels air base, home to Russia’s strategic bomber fleet, and in Ryazan, a few hours’ drive from Moscow.
Ukraine did not directly claim responsibility for the strikes but nonetheless celebrated them.
Late on Tuesday, sirens sounded at the airfield in Engels, Russian state-run news agencies reported, citing the first deputy of the district administration.
In Washington, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken repeated his country’s determination to provide Ukraine with equipment it needs to defend itself while saying it had neither encouraged nor enabled the Ukrainians to strike inside Russia.
US lawmakers agreed to provide Ukraine at least $800 million in additional security aid next year.
Russia’s defense ministry said three service members were killed in the attack at Ryazan. Although the attacks struck military targets, it characterized them as terrorism and said the aim was to disable its long-range aircraft.
Ukraine never publicly acknowledges responsibility for attacks inside Russia. Asked about the strikes, Defense Minister Oleskiy Reznikov repeated a longstanding joke blaming carelessness with cigarettes. “Very often Russians smoke in places where it’s forbidden to smoke,” he said.
Neighboring Belarus, a close Russian ally, plans to move military equipment and forces on Wednesday and Thursday to check its response to terrorism, the BelTA state news agency reported, adding that imitation weapons would be used for training.
Ukraine has for months voiced fears that Belarus and Russia could be planning a joint incursion across Ukraine’s northern border, although Belarus has said it will not enter the war.
At least 20 oil tankers queuing off Turkey face more delays to cross from Russia’s Black Sea ports to the Mediterranean as operators race to adhere to new Turkish insurance rules added ahead of a G7 price cap on Russian oil, industry sources said.
The disruption in tanker traffic was not the result of the price cap on Russian oil agreed by a coalition of G7 countries and Australia, a group official said.
