The newspaper writes that after the attacks on Russian military airfields near Saratov, Ryazan and Kursk in Ukraine, they announced the possibility of attacking other targets in Russia, including Siberia. Finance Times He mentions “an anonymous adviser on defense matters to the Ukrainian authorities”. The airspace in the Kursk region was bombed on 6 December, and the other two on 5 December.
“We have no distance restrictions and soon we will be able to reach any destination on Russian territory, including Siberia,” a Ukrainian official said.
The newspaper claims that Kiev’s attacks have shown that it can carry out long-range attacks without Western weapons using drones of its own production.
We know how difficult it is to defend against such air strikes in Ukraine. “Russia will soon no longer have a safe zone,” said an unnamed Ukrainian adviser.
According to him, drone strikes will not help Ukraine win the conflict, but may affect Kiev’s “influence operations” in Russia, which “the West does not want to support”.
The Ukrainian government has not publicly claimed responsibility for the attacks on military airfields.
Citing military analysts, the publication writes that one of the long-term consequences of the attacks may be the internal deployment of its military forces by Russia, which will help protect them but will complicate operations.
“These attacks … will certainly undermine the self-confidence of the Russians … They will have to think about how to deploy military equipment and ensure its safety,” said an anonymous representative of the Ministry of Defense of one of the Western countries.
Ukraine development
The Ukrainian consultant, quoted by the FT, noted that the drones in question were neither Ukroboronprom models nor modified Soviet drones.
According to him, UAVs are a joint venture of the state and private sector, and Ukraine “often” can produce such new drones.
As Kommersant wrote, the drones were updated versions of the Soviet Tu-141 unmanned reconnaissance aircraft released in the 1970s.
The publication also cites the words of a Ukrainian engineer who allegedly took part in the creation of unmanned aerial vehicles for the Ukrainian troops.
According to him, drones used to attack Russian military airfields could fly at speeds close to the speed of sound, and the replacement of the original Tu-141 camera allowed to carry more than 50 kg of explosives.
“It will basically be a cheap cruise missile,” Erdogan said, noting that it takes time to produce such equipment from scratch and replenish stocks.
Attack detected in Kiev
Earlier, a senior Ukrainian official confirmed to the newspaper. Washington postThat Kiev was behind the attacks on airports in Russia.
“These were Ukrainian drones – very successful, very effective,” the source said.
However, he did not give any details about what happened.
Previously, Ukrainian drones attacked military airfields in the Ryazan, Saratov and Kursk regions. Russian strategic aviation is based at the “Dyagilevo” in the Ryazan region and “Engels” in the Saratov region, which are approximately 500 and 750 km away from the Ukrainian border, respectively.
At Dyagilevo airfield, three soldiers died due to the explosion of a fuel tanker. Saratov Region Governor Roman Busargin said that there is no emergency in the residential areas of the city, there is nothing to worry about and the civil infrastructure facilities are intact.
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation claimed that Ukrainian UAVs were shot down and the fuselage of the two aircraft was slightly damaged by the wreckage of the drones.
After the drone attack, an oil reservoir in the Kursk region caught fire. The yellow terror alert level has been extended in the region. The governor of the Kursk region, Roman Starovoit, said that the fire at the Kursk airport was extinguished a day later, and there were no casualties.
After Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine, the border regions of the Russian Federation were bombed more than once. The attacks were reported by the authorities of the Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk regions.