Russia accused Ukraine on Wednesday of attacking civilian targets on Russian territory, after six regions of the country and Crimea were attacked overnight by dozens of drones (unmanned devices).
“Terrorist activity in Kiev continues, most of the drones are directed against civilian targets,” said the spokesman for the Russian Presidency (Kremlin), Dmitry Peskov, at the usual daily press conference.
Peskov affirmed that Russia will continue the “special military operation”, which began with the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, “to eradicate such threats.”
The Kremlin spokesman was commenting on attacks by dozens of drones in the Pskov, Bryansk, Moscow, Oryol, Kaluga and Ryazan regions, as well as in Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014.
According to Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin was informed of the “massive attack” and the Defense Ministry was analyzing all the details of what happened to take “appropriate measures.”
One of the attacks targeted Pskov airport, a city located, as the crow flies, about 600 kilometers northwest of Moscow and 800 kilometers north of kyiv.
The Pskov region borders Belarus, but also two NATO countries, Latvia and Estonia.
Asked about the possibility that the drones that hit Pskov had been launched from the Baltic countries, the Kremlin spokesman asked to wait for the experts’ conclusions, according to the Spanish news agency EFE.
According to Russian and Ukrainian media, between four and six Ilyushin Il-76 military transport planes were damaged in the attack on Pskov.
The Russian agency TASS reported that there were no casualties in Pskov, but admitted the burning of at least one Il-76, citing the regional representation of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
The airport was closed today to civilian flights, the Federal Air Transport Agency announced, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.
“To take additional measures for flight safety, six Azimut Airlines flights and two Ikar Airlines flights have been cancelled,” a spokesman for the federal air transport agency said.
Interfax described Pskov’s infrastructure as an international airport of federal importance, which also houses an Air Force base with Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft.
On the Ukrainian side, the Defense Ministry said the attack destroyed four Il-76s and damaged other aircraft.
“Four Il-76s were destroyed and cannot be recovered. Several more units [aviões] they have been damaged. As for the victims, the information is becoming clearer,” a ministry spokesman told the Ukrinform news agency.
The information published by Ukraine and Russia on the course of the war cannot be immediately verified by independent sources.
Source: TSF
