Ukraine has claimed it struck five Russian fighter jets in a kamikaze drone attack on Kursk Airfield overnight.
Speaking exclusively to Kyiv Post, a source in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), said a wave of drones hit “four Su-30 aircraft and one MiG-29” at the facility, as well as damaging two Pantsir missile launchers and the radars of an S-300 air defense system.
Though they did not specify how many drones were used in the attack, the source said that “only 3 of them were shot down by a leaky air defense system of Russia.”
They added: “Judging by the fact that even the Russians themselves recorded at least 13 explosions, the ‘cotton’ [a Ukrainian slang term for ‘explosions’] was impressive.
“We will find out the exact consequences of the damage and the number of dead and wounded in the near future.”
Kursk region lies next to the Ukrainian border and Kursk airfield is situated some 100km inside Russian territory.
Kyiv’s claims have yet to be independently verified but the Russian Ministry of Defense itself acknowledged an overnight drone attack in the region.
“The Kyiv regime once again made attempts overnight and in the morning of 27 August to carry out terrorist attacks on the territory of the Russian Federation, using aircraft-type UAVs,” it said in a post on Telegram.
“Air defence systems on duty detected and destroyed two unmanned aerial vehicles flying over the territory of Bryansk and Kursk oblasts.”
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It did not mention an attack on Kursk Airfield but the governor of the region said a drone had crashed into an apartment building in Kursk city overnight, blowing out windows on several floors.
"There were no fires, none of the residents were injured," governor Roman Starovoit said on social media, sharing an image of what appeared to be a charred mark on a tower block.
The attack is just the latest in an escalating wave of Ukrainian strikes on targets inside Russia and in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.
Ukraine carried out a successful drone attack on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in occupied Crimea on Friday, killing and wounding “several dozen” Russian servicemen and damaging ammunition dumps and storage facilities.
Several explosions were reported on social media at a military base near the village of Perevalne, Simferopol after what is believed to be Ukraine’s largest drone attack to date.
“Currently, we can definitely talk about several dozen Russians killed and wounded. Ammunition storage facilities were also damaged. Military equipment was also seriously damaged,” a source told Kyiv Post.
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