JAKARTA - Russia's airfield caught fire again on Tuesday, making it the third, a day after two Russian air bases also experienced the same thing, referring to a drone strike.
Officials in Russia's Kursk City, located closer to Ukraine, released images of black smoke above the airfield on Tuesday morning. The governor said an oil storage tank there had caught fire, but there were no casualties.
It came a day after Russia confirmed that it had been hit by what it said was a Soviet-era drone, at thegels airbase, home to the Russian giants' strategic bomber fleet, and in Ryazan, just hours from Moscow.
Kyiv did not directly claim responsibility for the attack, but celebrated it.
"If Russia sees the incident as a intentional attack, it might consider it some of the most strategic troop protection failures since the invasion of Ukraine," the UK Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.
"The Russian command chain may seek to identify and impose severe sanctions on Russian officers deemed responsible for the incident," the ministry continued.
Russia's Defense Ministry said three soldiers were killed in the attack on Ryazan. Despite the attack attacking military targets, Russia characterized it as terrorism and said its goal was to paralyze Moscow's long-range aircraft.
The New York Times, citing a senior Ukrainian official, said the drone involved in Monday's attack launched from Ukrainian territory, and at least one attack was carried out with the help of special forces close to the base.
However, Ukraine has never acknowledged responsibility for the attack on Russia. Asked about the attack, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleskiy Reznikov repeated an old joke, the explosion at the Russian base was caused by reckless smokers.
"Russians smoke very often in places that are prohibited from smoking," he joked.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President's Advisor Oleksify Arestovych went a step further, noting Engels was the only Russian-owned base fully equipped for the giant bomber Russia used in the attack on Ukraine.
"They will try to deploy (strategic planes) to the airfield, but all of this complicates operations against Ukraine. Yesterday, thanks to the'smoking' that didn't work, we achieved huge results," he said.
Separately, Russian commentators said on social media that if Ukraine could strike so far inside Russia, it might also hit Moscow.
The ability of the Ukrainian armed forces to achieve military targets deep within the territory of the Russian Federation has a very symbolic and important meaning, wrote Ukrainian military analyst Serhiy Zgurets on the Espreso TV website.
It is known that the large Tupolev long-range bomber stationed by Russia at the Digels airbase is the main part of its strategic nuclear arsenal, similar to the B-52 that was deployed by the United States during the Cold War.
Russia has been using it in its campaign since October to destroy Ukraine's energy network with a wave of missile attacks almost every week.
Thegels Base, near Saratov City, is at least 600 km (372 miles) from the nearest area of Ukraine.
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