Ukraine said it carried out a drone strike on a military airfield in Russia’s western Lipetsk region, expanding the reach of its assaults on Russian territory for a fourth day.
The attack hit a facility at the airfield storing glide bombs that Russia uses to target Ukrainian troops and cities, the General Staff in Kyiv said Friday on Telegram.
Nine people were injured and public transport was halted in Lipetsk, a city of almost 500,000 people about 460 kilometers (286 miles) south of Moscow, Governor Igor Artamonov said on his Telegram channel. Russian air defenses intercepted 75 drones overnight including 19 over Lipetsk region, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said.
Fighting continued for a fourth day in the neighboring Kursk region of Russia following the surprise incursion by as many as 1,000 Ukrainian troops backed by tanks and other armored vehicles. The Russian Defense Ministry said Friday it used air strikes and artillery to stop Ukrainian forces pushing “deep into” its territory.
Ukrainian security services downed a Russian helicopter on Friday using a light drone in the Kursk region, according to a person familiar with the matter, the second such strike this week.
Russian authorities on Friday declared a federal emergency in Kursk region as people abandoned their homes to flee the fighting. Russian military bloggers reported Ukrainian advances as deep as 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the border, the Institute for the Study of War said in an assessment late Thursday.
The U.S. and the European Union backed the Ukrainian offensive. While the U.S. doesn’t support “long-range attacks” into Russia, the intervention in Kursk is consistent with Washington’s policy on Ukraine’s use of American-supplied weapons, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters.
“Ukraine is fighting a legitimate defensive war against an illegal aggression,” said Peter Stano, lead spokesperson for the EU’s foreign affairs and security policy. “In the framework of this legitimate right to defend itself Ukraine is entitled to hit the enemy wherever it finds necessary on its territory, but also on the territory of the enemy.”
European natural gas prices are set for a weekly jump on fears over possible disruptions to Russian pipeline supplies, amid fighting around the town of Sudzha in the Kursk region that’s the location of a key transit point. While flows through Sudzha are continuing within the normal range, traders are bracing for a possible halt.
The spectacular and unexpected operation in Kursk is a boost for Ukrainian army Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, who’s faced criticism over his leadership, Volodymyr Fesenko, head of the Penta research institute in Kyiv said in a Facebook post. “We have been waiting for something like this for a long time,” he added.
While the Russian army offensive in eastern Ukraine goes on, the war that’s now in its third year has been steadily spreading toward Russian territory with Ukrainian forces targeting military objects and energy infrastructure with drones and missiles.
Russia-appointed authorities in occupied Crimea reported a combined attack overnight, involving drones, uncrewed boats and Neptune missiles, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said on Telegram.
Air defenses also downed 29 drones over the Belgorod Region, neighboring Ukraine, according to the local governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.
—With assistance from Volodymyr Verbianyi and Andrea Palasciano.
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