Dec 6, 2022 - World

Third Russian airfield hit with drone attack in 2 days

Ivana Saric

A Tu-160 bomber lands at Engels-2 airbase on August 7, 2008 in Engels, Russia — A Tu-160 bomber lands at Engels airbase Russia in 2008. Photo: Wojtek Laski/Getty Images

A drone strike on an airfield in Russia's Kursk region ignited an oil tanker on Tuesday, in the third reported attack on a location inside Russia this week.

Driving the news: "As a result of a drone attack, an oil storage tank caught fire in the area of the Kursk airfield. There were no casualties," Kursk Governor Roman Starovoit wrote in a Telegram post Tuesday, adding that the "fire is localized."

The news comes a day after the Russian Defense Ministry said it shot down Ukrainian drones that had attacked two military airfields in Russia's Saratov and Ryazan regions.
Engels air base, one of the targets in Monday's drone attack, housed strategic bombers that have previously been used to launch strikes on Ukraine and are capable of carrying nuclear weapons.
Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the explosions.

The big picture: The strikes on Monday occurred on airfields more than 300 miles from the Ukrainian border, per AP.

The Kursk airfield is about 60 miles from the Ukrainian border.
Classes were canceled at two schools due to the ongoing fire at the Kursk airfield, Starovoit wrote on Telegram.
The Kursk airport has "not accepted or sent civilian aircraft" since the start of the war, according to state news agency RIA Novosti.

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Third Russian airfield hit with drone attack in 2 days

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