Russia has accused Kyiv of attacking two air bases with “jet drones”.

On Monday, Ukrainian drones fired on two Russian air bases in the center of the country, killing three. In any case, this is what the Russian Ministry of Defense said: on Monday morning, “the Kiev regime (…) tried to strike with Soviet-designed drones at the Diaghilevo air base in the Ryazan region and Engels in the Saratov region”, at least 500 km from the border with Ukraine.

The ministry accuses Ukrainian forces of seeking to “decommission Russian long-range aircraft” used to strike numerous energy infrastructures across Ukraine in recent weeks.

If these “jet drones” were intercepted by Russian air defense systems, their fragments fell on the territory of the attacked air bases, causing explosions and “minor” damage to two aircraft, the press release said. According to various sources, it could be 2 Russian Tu-95 bombers, a type of aircraft that regularly bombs Ukraine.

As a result of these attacks, three Russian soldiers were “mortally wounded” and four more were hospitalized, according to the same ministry source. Despite these attacks, a “massive precision-guided strike” hit Ukrainian military installations and energy infrastructure linked to Ukrainian forces around 1 p.m., the statement said, adding that a total of 17 targets were hit.

Kyiv has not yet claimed responsibility for any of the explosions.

A number of Russian media outlets reported throughout the day, citing local officials in particular, that Monday’s explosions rocked two air bases in central Russia, one of which is being used by strategic aviation and is being used to strike Ukraine.

Speculation on Russian social media immediately suggested that Ukraine could be behind the explosions, even though both sites are located hundreds of kilometers from the border. The Ukrainian company Ukroboronprom said on Facebook that it is preparing a weapon with a range of a thousand kilometers, capable of carrying a 75-kilogram explosive charge. But this is just a guess.

Vladimir Putin was briefed on these incidents, limiting himself to a statement earlier that day by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. “The president is regularly informed by the relevant authorities about everything that happens,” he told the press, without going into details. Kyiv has not yet claimed responsibility for any of the explosions.