For the first time since the start of the Ukraine war, Russia has suffered a simultaneous drone strike in several regions of the country. Six Russian regions were hit by unmanned vehicles on the night of last Tuesday (29). The strongest attack took place at Pskov International Airport in northwest Russia, where a massive fire was reported.
The number of drones and the extent of the damage have not yet been specified, but, according to preliminary information, there are no victims among the population.
Information about the attacks was confirmed by the governor of the Pskov region, Mikhail Vedernikov, who noted that the Russian military carried out the work of repelling the attack. “From the beginning of the incident, I was personally at the scene. According to preliminary information, there are no casualties. The scale of the destruction is being specified,” he said.
The Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations, meanwhile, reported that the attack damaged an Il-76 military transport plane. According to state-run Tass news agency, four aircraft were reportedly damaged.
It has been reported that Pskov International Airport will not be serving civil flights throughout the day.
Russia has blamed Ukraine for the drone attack at the airport. Kiev has not officially acknowledged its involvement, but the spokesman for the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Intelligence department, Andrey Yusov, said four Il-76 military transport planes were destroyed and several more damaged in the attack.
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The attack in Pskov drew attention to the fact that the city is 700km from the border with Ukraine, considering a straight line through Belarus, a distance considered too long for launching drones. This led to speculation that the attack could have come from Estonia or Latvia, but there is no confirmation on this information.
When asked by journalists whether the attack could have come from the territory of the Baltic countries, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not respond, limiting himself to saying that “it is the prerogative of our military experts to draw such conclusions about the route of these drones “.
The spokesperson also stated that “the vast majority of drones fly specifically against civilian targets”. “We are continuing and will continue the special military operation to eradicate such threats against us,” added Peskov.
Subsequently, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that three Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles were shot down by air defense systems on the territory of the Bryansk region. Also, regional authorities and the Ministry of Defense reported downed drones in the Oryol, Kaluga and Ryazan regions.
This Wednesday (30), reports of drone strikes continued to be reported by the governors of the Voronezh and Sevastopol regions. According to the authorities, the vast majority of attacks would have been repelled by air defense.
At the same time, the capital of Ukraine and several other regions were attacked at night by cruise missiles and Shahed-type drones. According to the Commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valery Zaluzhny, all 28 cruise missiles and 15 out of 16 drones were shot down. However, two people died in Kiev.
Editing: Thales Schmidt
Source: www.brasildefato.com.br
