A drone strike targeting Pskov airport in northwestern Russia, the regional governor announced on Tuesday evening, while the state news agency said four heavy cargo planes had been hit.
“The Ministry of Defense repels a drone attack on Pskov airport,” Verdenikov underlined via the Telegram social network.
The message from the governor of that region is accompanied by a video in which you can see a huge fire and hear explosions and the sound of sirens.
“According to initial information, there are no casualties. The extent of the destruction is being clarified,” he added, indicating that he was personally on site from the beginning of the incident.
Russia’s official TASS news agency, citing emergency services, said four heavy Il-76 aircraft were damaged.
The airspace at Vnukovo International Airport, southwest of Moscow, was also closed to traffic, TASS added, citing “air services”.
Drone strikes on Russian territory and on the Crimean peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014 have been almost daily in recent weeks, with the Russian capital particularly targeted against the backdrop of a counter-offensive in Kiev that began in early June.
The Pskov region was already attacked by ‘drones’ at the end of May.
This Monday, Russia claimed to have thwarted night attacks by ‘drones’ in the Moscow and Bryansk regions (west).
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed at the end of July that the war “is coming to Russian territory”.
As part of the counter-offensive, Ukrainian forces demanded further advances on the country’s southern front on Russian defense lines at Robotyne on Tuesday, including one whose liberation was declared on Monday, a Kiev army spokesman said.
The Russian Defense Ministry stated in its daily report that it repelled two Ukrainian attacks near Verbove and others on different sectors of the southern front, without specifically mentioning the situation in Robotyne.
The Ukrainian army has been leading a counter-offensive against the Russian invasion in the east and south since June, but has been held back by the strong defensive lines of the Moscow forces – which have spent the winter and spring fortifying their positions, with trenches, anti-tank traps and minefields spanning hundreds of kilometers – and the advance is slow.
However, according to analysts, the capture of Robotyne could allow the Ukrainian army to advance significantly towards its objectives in the south of the country, towards the Sea of Azov.
Source: DN
