cruise missiles
The attack on Engels Air Base, located near the city of Saratov, some 730 km (450 miles) southeast of Moscow and hundreds of kilometers from the frontline in Ukraine, was the second such attack this month.
It was previously struck on 5 December by what Russia said were Ukrainian drone attacks on two Russian air bases that day.
The air base is one of two strategic bomber bases that house Russia’s air-delivered nuclear capability. There was no comment from Kyiv, which has never publicly claimed responsibility for the attacks inside Russia.
“A Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) was shot down at low altitude near the Engels military airfield in the Saratov region,” the defense ministry statement said.
It said that three Russian soldiers were killed by falling debris of the drone.
Russia has 60 to 70 strategic bombers of two types – Tu-95MS Bear and Tu-160 Blackjack. Both are capable of carrying nuclear warheads and nuclear-armed cruise missiles as well as conventional munitions.
Moscow has used its air force to fire cruise missiles in attacks that Kyiv has equated with war crimes.
Saratov’s regional governor, Roman Busargin, said Monday that the latest incident at the base did not damage civilian infrastructure and posed no danger to residents.
Putin again said on Sunday he was open to talks – a stance Ukraine’s most powerful backer, the United States, has previously dismissed as posturing in the face of Russian attacks.
Putin said in an interview on Rossiya 1 state television, “We are ready to hold talks with all those involved about acceptable solutions, but it is up to them – we are not those who refuse to negotiate, they Huh.”
An adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Putin needed to accept that it was Russia that did not want talks.
“Russia single-handedly invaded Ukraine and is killing civilians,” the adviser, Mykhailo Podolić, said on Twitter. “Russia does not want talks, but tries to avoid responsibility.”
Russian attacks on Ukraine’s power stations have left millions without power and Zelensky said in an address to the nation that Moscow would aim to make the final days of 2022 dark and difficult.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Sunday that its forces had killed about 60 Ukrainian soldiers and destroyed several pieces of Ukrainian military equipment along the Kupiansk-Lyaman contact line the previous day.
Reuters could not verify the reports.
The Kremlin says it will fight until all its territorial goals are achieved, while Kyiv says it will not rest until every Russian soldier is driven out of the country.