Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said Thursday that Tuesday’s drone attack upon Russia’s Pskov airbase came from within Russia’s own borders.
“We are working from the territory of Russia,” Mr Budanov told the website The War Zone, without saying what type or quantity of drones were used, though he did say Ukrainian drones targeted the tops of aircraft, where the fuel tanks are located.
On Tuesday night, waves of drones struck military assets deep inside western Russia, targeting at least six regions during a four-hour attack—the largest drone attack inside Russian territory since the start of the Ukraine-Russia war in February 2022.
The unmanned crafts hit the Pskov airport near the borders of Estonia and Latvia and about 400 miles (700 kilometers) west of Moscow, causing the airfield to shut down for the day. At least four Il-76 military transport planes, which carry both troops and heavy machinery, were damaged in the strike, according to Russian state media outlet TASS.
Ukraine generally does not take responsibility for attacks inside Russia, and Budanov did not specify whether the strike on Pskov itself was carried out by Ukrainian or Russian operatives.
However, on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky did say that a Ukrainian-made weapon had hit a target at a distance of 700 kilometers—about the same distance Pskov is from the Ukrainian border.
Overnight Thursday, drone attacks continued inside several Russian locations, including a factory that makes electronic parts for rockets in the town of Lyubertsy. Despite unconfirmed video of a large smoke plume, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin of nearby Moscow said the drones were shot down over Lyubertsy without causing any damage.
Also, one residential and one administrative building were struck by drones in the town of Kurchatov, close to the Kursk nuclear plant, according to Kursk Regional Governor Roman Starovoyt.
