The Ukrainian military says it has hit a Russian military airfield in the Lipetsk region of western Russia overnight, damaging stockpiles of guided bombs and causing a series of detonations.
Kyiv has been attacking Russian airbases to reduce Moscow’s ability to use its warplanes to strike targets in Ukraine and hammer front lines with guided bombs and missiles.
Kyiv’s military said on the Telegram messaging app that several sources of ignition were recorded, a large fire broke out and multiple detonations were observed, with Russian Su-34, Su-35 and MiG-31 warplanes were based at the airfield.
The Russian governor of the Lipetsk region, Igor Artamonov who confirmed the report said a “massive attack” by Ukrainian drones had caused explosions, disrupted power supply and wounded nine people.
Ukraine’s ability to strike military targets deep inside Russia has been hampered by its lack of long-range missiles. It has been appealing to the West to allow it to use Western-supplied weapons for such strikes.
