Ukrainian drone attack kills three at airbase inside Russia

Hostilities intensify. Moscow claimed its forces had shot down a Ukrainian drone near a long-range bomber base deep inside Russia, while Ukraine accused Russia of bombing its cities in the past 24 hours.

The drone was flying near Russia’s Engels airbase, where long-range strategic bombing is based that could have been used to target Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that three air force personnel had been killed in the incident, but no planes had been damaged, denying reports on social media that several planes had been destroyed.

The incident took place in the early hours of Monday at the Engels base, located in the Russian region of Saratov, on the banks of the Volga River, more than 600 kilometers east of the border with Ukraine, which contains between 60 and 70 strategic bomber aircraft. of two types: the Tu-95MS Bear and the Tu-160 Blackjack.

Both capable of carrying nuclear bombs and nuclear cruise missiles, as well as conventional munitions, and which, according to Ukraine, have participated in attacks against that nation.

Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat did not directly acknowledge his country’s involvement in the incident, but said: “These are the consequences of Russian aggression.”

“If the Russians thought that the war would not affect their rear, they were wrong… “This kind of thing is happening more and more frequently and we hope this will be positive for Ukraine,” he added.

The official asked to wait for the satellite images of the airfield to assess the real consequences of the explosion, which Russia says occurred when the Ukrainian drone was shot down.

Russia responds with airstrikes

Ukraine does not claim responsibility for the drone strikes in Russia and remains ambiguous about past attacks, including those against Russian bases earlier this month.

On December 5, other actions against Engels and the Dyagilevo base, in the Ryazan region, in western Russia, caused the death of three soldiers and the wounding of four others.

These drone strikes prompted renewed Russian shelling in Ukraine in response, hitting homes and killing civilians.

At least four civilians have been injured in Russian airstrikes on five regions of the southeast of the country in the last 24 hours, according to the deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko.

For weeks Russia has not dropped bombs on the Dnipropetrovsk region, which borders the partially occupied southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhia, its governor Valentyn Reznichenko reported on Telegram.

“This is the third quiet night in 5 1/2 months since the Russians started shelling around the city of Nikopol,” Reznichenko wrote. Nikopol, located across the Dnieper River and close to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, It is under the control of Russian forces.

Ukrainian-controlled areas of the neighboring Kherson region were shelled 33 times in the last 24 hours, according to the Ukrainian governor of Kherson, Yaroslav Yanushevich, who reported no casualties.

kyiv called for expelling Russia from the UN Security Council

The Ukrainian power grid operator confirmed that power is still lacking, and emergency restrictions on electricity consumption had been introduced in five Ukrainian regions and the capital kyiv.

The Ukrainian government has called for the removal of Russia as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and the UN as a whole.

“Ukraine calls on UN member states (…) to deprive the Russian Federation of its status as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, and to exclude it from the UN as a whole,” requested the Ukrainian minister of Foreign Relations, Dmytro Kuleba.

The UN Charter does not provide for depriving a permanent member of the Security Council of its status and its right to veto. To exclude a country from the organization, two-thirds of the members of the General Assembly must vote in favor and the decision must be ratified by the Security Council.

On Sunday Putin reiterated that he was open to negotiations with Ukraine. “We are ready to negotiate acceptable solutions with all those involved, but that depends on them; it is not us who refuse to negotiate, it is them,” the Russian president declared.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called for India’s help in implementing a “peace formula” during a call with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“Had a phone call with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and wished him a successful G20 presidency,” Zelenskiy wrote on Twitter. “It was on this platform that I announced the peace formula and now I am counting on India’s participation in its implementation,” she added.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine celebrated 10 months on Christmas Eve since it began, but attempts at a diplomatic exit have failed, something that leaves the population increasingly exposed to exodus, death and living under the threat of attacks.

With EFE, Reuters and AP