Financial Times: Ukraine threatens to strike Russian facilities in Siberia In Kiev, after drone attacks on military airfields in the Saratov, Ryazan and Kursk regions, it was assumed that the Ukrainian armed forces would be able to achieve "any goals" on the territory of Russia, including in Siberia.
A Ukrainian military adviser on condition of anonymity told the Financial Times that the drones that attacked Russian bases were created jointly by the public and private sectors of Ukraine. Kiev has not publicly claimed responsibility for the strikes on military airfields of the Russian Federation.
In Ukraine, after strikes on Russian military airfields near Saratov, Ryazan and Kursk, they announced the possibility of attacking other objects in Russia, including Siberia, the Financial Times writes, citing "an unnamed adviser to the Ukrainian authorities on defense issues." The airfield in the Kursk region was shelled on December 6, the other two on December 5.
The newspaper claims that Kiev has demonstrated with its attacks that it can deliver long-range strikes without Western weapons, with the help of drones of its own production.
"In Ukraine, we know how difficult it is to defend against such attacks from the air. Soon Russia will not have safe zones either," said an unnamed Ukrainian adviser.
In his opinion, the attacks carried out with the help of drones will not help Ukraine win the conflict, but they may affect Kiev's "influence operations" on the territory of Russia, which "the West does not want to support."
The Government of Ukraine has not publicly claimed responsibility for the strikes on military airfields.The publication, citing military analysts, writes that one of the long-term results of the attacks may be Russia's dispersal of its armed forces inside the country, which will help protect them, but complicate operations.
"These attacks... of course, they will make Russians less confident in themselves… They will have to think about how to distribute military equipment and ensure its security," said an anonymous representative of the Ministry of Defense of one of the Western countries.
Ukrainian development
The Ukrainian adviser referred to by the FT noted that the drones in question are neither Ukroboronprom models nor modified Soviet drones.
As Kommersant wrote, the drones were updated versions of the Soviet unmanned reconnaissance aircraft Tu-141, released back in the 1970s.
The publication also quotes the words of a Ukrainian engineer who is allegedly involved in the creation of drones for Ukrainian troops.
According to him, the drones used for attacks on Russian military airfields could fly at a speed close to the speed of sound, and replacing the original Tu-141 camera would allow moving more than 50 kg of explosives.
"In fact, it will be a cheap cruise missile," he said and noted that it takes time to produce such equipment from scratch and replenish stocks.
Kiev recognized the attack
Earlier, a senior Ukrainian official confirmed to The Washington Post that Kiev is behind the attacks on airfields in Russia.
However, he did not give any details of what happened.
Earlier, Ukrainian drones attacked military airfields in the Ryazan, Saratov and Kursk regions. Russian strategic aviation is based at the Diaghilev airfields in the Ryazan region and Engels airfields in the Saratov Region, located at a distance of about 500 and 750 km from the border with Ukraine, respectively.
At the Diaghilev airfield, three servicemen were killed due to an explosion of a fuel tanker. The governor of the Saratov region, Roman Busargin, said that there were no emergencies in the residential quarters of the city, there were no reasons for concern, the civil infrastructure facilities were intact.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that Ukrainian UAVs were shot down, and the wreckage of drones "slightly damaged the hull plating of two aircraft."
In the Kursk region, after the UAV attack, an oil storage tank caught fire. The yellow level of terrorist danger has been extended in the region. The fire at the Kursk airfield was extinguished a day later, there were no injuries, said the governor of the Kursk region Roman Starovoit.
After the start of Russia's military operation in Ukraine, the border areas of the Russian Federation were repeatedly shelled. The attacks are reported by the authorities of the Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk regions.
Alice Andreeva
