Two Ukrainian news outlets reported on Tuesday (22/8) that Ukrainian saboteurs were responsible for the attacks that occurred on Saturday (19/8) and Monday (21/8) which destroyed two Russian bombers and damaged two other planes at two air bases. deep within Russian territory.
The attacks took place on Saturday at the Soltsy air base in northwestern Russia, about 700 kilometers north of the Ukrainian border, and on Monday at the Shaikovka air base located about 300 kilometers northeast of the Ukrainian border. The Associated Press was unable to independently verify the claims on the ground.
However, the Russian Ministry of Defense acknowledged that the strike on Soltsy damaged one plane, the Associated Press reports. They did not comment on reports regarding the attack on Shaikovka, but the attack was commented on by the Russian media.
Satellite image from Planet Labs analyzed by the Associated Press shows what appear to be 10 Tupolev Tu-22M long-range bombers parked at Soltsy air base on August 16. By Monday, two days after the attack, all of the bombers had left the airbase. A large black dot is visible where one of the Tupolev areas was parked.
Photographs claimed to be from the Soltsy airbase and published by Russian and Ukrainian media show a Russian Tu-22M bomber burning there after the attack.
Elsewhere, Russian artillery killed three people in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, the local government said late Tuesday.
Two villages near the town of Lyman were hit in the attacks, killing two women and a man, aged 63 to 88. The three were sitting together on a bench when the attack occurred.
Separately, four people were injured in an attack using two explosive drones on a village in northeastern Ukraine near the Russian border, military officials said.
Earlier on Tuesday, Russia said its air defenses shot down a Ukrainian drone in the Moscow region and Bryansk region near the two countries’ borders. (lt/rs)