The Ministry of Defense reported that three soldiers were killed when the wreckage of a UAV fell at an airfield near Saratov The wreckage of a Ukrainian drone shot down by Russian air defense fell in the area of the military airfield "Engels" in the Saratov region, where strategic bombers of long-range aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces are based.
At the same time, three servicemen of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation were killed, but the equipment was not damaged. What is known about the emergency at the airfield - in the material of "Gazeta.Ru».
"There is no threat to residents"
On Monday morning, an air alarm system sounded in Engels near the airfield, local residents told about the explosion, the Telegram channel Baza reported.
The governor of the Saratov region, Roman Busargin, wrote in his Telegram channel that "there were no emergencies in the residential quarters of the city."
"There is absolutely no threat to residents. All the stories about the evacuation from the city are blatant lies created far beyond the borders of the country. Civil infrastructure facilities were not affected," he stressed.
The governor clarified that the law enforcement agencies are "checking information about an incident at a military facility."
Later, the Ministry of Defense announced the death of three people when the wreckage of a Ukrainian drone fell near a military airfield in the Saratov region.
"On December twenty-sixth, at about 1:35 Moscow time, a Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle was shot down at low altitude by means of air defense of the Russian Aerospace Forces when approaching the military airfield Engels in the Saratov region. As a result of the fall of the wreckage of the drone, three Russian servicemen of technical personnel who were at the airfield were fatally injured," RIA Novosti quotes the release of the defense department.
The Ministry clarified that during the emergency at the Engels airfield, where the strategic bombers of the long-range aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces are based, aviation equipment was not damaged.
In turn, Busargin in Telegram expressed his condolences to the relatives and friends of the fallen soldiers. He also promised to provide their families with "all necessary assistance."
Attack on December 5
The current drone is not the first attempt by the AFU to attack the Engels airfield. On December 5, the Ukrainian military also tried to hit the Diaghilev military airfields in the Ryazan region and Engels in the Saratov Region with Soviet-made jet drones.
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation then reported that it was possible to intercept the UAV, but three servicemen were killed when the wreckage fell, four were wounded, and the hull plating of two aircraft was also "slightly damaged."
"On the morning of December 5, the Kiev regime attempted to strike Soviet-made jet unmanned aerial vehicles at the Diaghilev military airfields in the Ryazan Region and Engels in the Saratov Region," the Russian Defense Ministry said at the time.
The ministry clarified that as a response to the attack, Russia inflicted a massive blow on the Ukrainian military command system and related defense facilities.
"The military control system and related facilities of the defense complex, communication centers, energy and military units of Ukraine have been dealt a massive blow with high-precision air and sea-based weapons. All 17 designated facilities were hit," the ministry said.
The ministry also noted that this strike disrupted the transfer by rail of the reserves of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, foreign weapons, military equipment and ammunition to combat areas.
U.S. involvement
On December 7, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that Washington did not help Ukraine to strike at the territory of Russia.
"We do not encourage Ukrainians to launch strikes on the territory of Russia and do not provide them with the opportunity to launch such strikes," Bloomberg quoted him as saying.
On the same day, German Cabinet Speaker Steffen Hebestreit at a briefing called Russian airfields legitimate targets and said that Ukraine "is not obliged to limit" its actions to its own territories.
According to him, the German government has taken note of reports of destruction at Russian air bases and adheres to the opinion that Ukraine has a legitimate right to self-defense, which proceeds from Article 51 of the UN Charter.
The next day, the press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov said at a briefing that Hebeshright's statement does not contribute to the resolution of the conflict, but prolongs "this whole difficult period."
On December 11, the coordinator for strategic communications at the White House National Security Council, John Kirby, said that the United States "does not push" Ukraine to conduct operations inside Russia, and also "does not contribute to Ukrainian operations" on the territory of the Russian Federation. According to him, the United States is helping Kiev to defend "its territory," including those lost during the armed conflict.
Maria Shustrova
