A drone strike on Tuesday targeted a Russian airfield in the Kursk border region and set fire to an oil storage tank, the region’s governor said.
Roman Starovoyt, the governor of Kursk region bordering Ukraine, said via messaging app Telegram that no casualties were reported after Tuesday’s attack, adding that the fire had been “localized”.
The attack comes a day after attacks on two military airfields deep in Russian territory killed three soldiers and wounded four others. Russia blamed Ukraine for the attack on Dyagilevo airfield in the Ryazan region and Engels airfield in the Saratov region.
Ukraine took no responsibility for the attacks, but if Russia’s allegations are true, it would be the deepest Ukrainian attack inside Russia since the war began on February 24.
The Saratov region is at least 600 km (370 miles) from the nearest Ukrainian border. Many commentators and analysts have suggested that this would mean that Ukrainian forces would be able to hit Moscow.
Portal news agency quoted Ukrainian military analyst Serhiy Zgurets as saying that the Dyagilevo and Engels airfields hit on Monday were the only facilities capable of fully servicing bombers used to launch attacks on Ukraine.
Engels Airfield hosts several of Russia’s large nuclear-capable strategic bombers, the Tu-95 and Tu-160.
The English airfield is hundreds of kilometers from the border with Ukraine and is home to some of Russia’s largest fighter jets. Image: Russian Ministry of Defense/AP/Picture Alliance
The New York Times on Monday quoted an unnamed senior Ukrainian official as confirming that Kyiv had hit two military bases inside Russia with unmanned drones.
Kyiv has not publicly acknowledged the strikes. The Ukrainian government has previously refused to immediately claim responsibility for attacks on Russia or Russia-annexed Crimea.
Here are the other top headlines related to the war in Ukraine on Tuesday December 6th:
US State Department does not ‘encourage’ Ukrainian attacks on Russia
The US State Department said it does not encourage Kyiv to strike outside Ukrainian territory.
“We are not allowing Ukraine to strike beyond its borders; we do not encourage Ukraine to strike beyond its borders,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said.
“Everything we do – everything the world does to support Ukraine – is in support of Ukraine’s independence,” he said.
“We are providing Ukraine with what it needs on its sovereign territory — on Ukrainian soil — to deal with Russian aggressors,” Price said.
Russia said three people were killed and two planes damaged in attacks on Monday. Experts believe Ukraine entered Russian airspace using Soviet-era drones.
Kyiv has not taken responsibility for the attacks.
Zelenskyy visits east Donetsk to mark Armed Forces Day
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited troops in the eastern Donetsk region, where Russia’s military offensive has been concentrated lately, to mark Armed Forces Day, the presidency said.
The President appeared next to a sign reading Sloviansk in a video shared on social media and called for a minute’s silence to commemorate the killed soldiers.
“I congratulate you from the bottom of my heart on this great holiday, Bundeswehr Day,” he said.
Zelenskyy has visited various frontline regions in the nine months since Russia invaded.
Sloviansk is about 45 kilometers southeast of Bakhmut, where fighting has been concentrated since Kherson fell back under Ukrainian control last month.
Kremlin sees a need for lasting peace, but no prospects for negotiations
The Kremlin said on Tuesday it agreed with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the need for a lasting peace in Ukraine, but added that it saw no prospect of negotiations at this time.
“That the result should be a just and lasting peace – that is arguable. But as for the prospects of any kind of negotiations, we don’t see any at the moment,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
He said Russia must achieve certain goals of its “military special operation” in Ukraine, as the Kremlin calls its invasion, before it can start talks with potential partners.
A day earlier, Blinken had said in an interview that the conflict would “almost certainly end in diplomacy” and negotiations. But he stressed the importance of achieving “lasting peace, not a sham peace,” and said Russia’s current stance made the talks a non-starter.
“Until and until Russia shows that it is interested in meaningful diplomacy, it has nowhere to go. Boss Matt Murray.
Ukraine is working to restore power after Russian strikes
Ukraine on Tuesday struggled to restore power after Russia’s recent rocket fire caused nationwide power outages as winter temperatures plummet.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his late night address that “most” of the 70 Russian missiles were shot down. However, the national electricity supplier Ukrenergo reported renewed power outages in all regions.
Russian air strikes on power grids have exposed Ukrainians to the biting cold Photo: DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP
The chief of the Ukrenergo accused Moscow of consulting with energy engineers ahead of its expected attack in order to cause as much damage as possible. He added that the attacks coincided with Ukraine’s “peak freeze season,” with temperatures below freezing in much of the country.
The latest string of missile attacks comes just as the emergency power outages should end.
Previous heavy bombing by Russia damaged almost half of Ukraine’s energy system.
Moscow says its attacks are targeting the Ukrainian military, while Kyiv accuses it of targeting civilians.
Latvian regulator scraps Russian television license
Latvia’s broadcasting regulator on Tuesday canceled the license of Russian independent television channel TV Rain, citing “threats to national security and public order”.
Ivars Abolins, head of the Latvian Broadcasting Regulatory Agency, said the TV channel’s management failed to understand the importance and seriousness of the programs it broadcast.
The TV will lose its license starting Dec. 8, Abolins said.
“Latvian laws must be respected by everyone,” he added.
In Latvia, songs for peace, against the Russian war in Ukraine
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French news agency AFP reported that the abuses cited by Abolins include the TV channel showing the Crimean Peninsula as part of Russia, which Russia controversially annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
The broadcaster dismissed the allegations against him as “unfair and absurd” in a statement on Tuesday, but said it would end its cable broadcast. It would keep material available on the YouTube site, it added.
TV Rain suspended its operations in Russia last month after Moscow blocked it for its critical coverage of the Ukraine war. It then moved to Riga, where it was restarted in mid-July with officials’ blessings.
More DW coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
The New York Times reported that Kyiv used unmanned drones to attack two military bases in Russia. The bases were hundreds of kilometers inside Russia and the attacks were launched from Ukrainian territory.
A wave of Russian missile attacks on Ukraine has destroyed civilian infrastructure and left at least two dead. A western price cap for Russian oil has now come into force.
The war in Ukraine has increased demand for weapons as Russia ramps up production and Western nations seek to replace stocks donated to Kyiv. However, a report says the conflict could also hamper production.
Russian propagandists constantly claim that Ukraine is full of Nazis and post alleged evidence on the Internet. DW’s fact-checking team examined some of this alleged evidence and found it unfounded.
rmt/msh (AFP, Portal)