A drone attack has set fire to an oil tank at an airfield in Kursk, the Russian region’s governor Roman Starovoyt said. Video footage posted to social media showed a large explosion lighting up the night sky, followed by a significant fire at the airfield 175 miles (280 km) from the Ukrainian border.
The drone attack came a day after Ukraine apparently launched attacks on two military airfields deep in Russian territory. For Kyiv, the strike represented an unprecedented operation to disrupt the Kremlin’s strategy of shutting down Ukraine’s power grid to provoke a humanitarian catastrophe in a country on the brink of winter.
The United States said on Tuesday it had not “authorized” Ukraine to carry out attacks inside Russia. When Russian President Vladimir Putin convened his Security Council after the apparent drone strikes, Kyiv did not directly admit responsibility, but did not criticize the action, which killed three people and damaged long-range bombers and a fuel depot, according to reports from Russia. “We neither encouraged nor enabled Ukrainians to strike inside Russia,” Foreign Minister Antony Blinken told reporters.
At least six civilians were killed in a shelling by Ukrainian forces on Tuesday in the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk. said the Russian-appointed head of the separatist-controlled eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, Alexey Kulemzin. The head of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Denis Pushilin, said the Ukrainian shelling killed a deputy in the People’s Council of the self-proclaimed republic, Maria Pirogova.
The Kremlin said Putin met with senior officials on Tuesday to discuss “internal security.” and said Russia was taking “necessary” measures to repel further Ukrainian attacks. One of the attacks hit the main Engels airfield in the Saratov region, where Russia bases some of its strategic nuclear bombers.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he agreed with Blinken’s comments about the need for a lasting peace in Ukraine, but said Moscow saw no prospect of talks “at the moment”. He added that Russia must fulfill the objectives of its “special military operation” for talks with potential partners to take place.
Russian and Ukrainian authorities confirmed the exchange of 120 people as part of a prisoner swap. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, 60 soldiers were brought back from “Kyiv-controlled territory”. Ukraine received 60 prisoners in return, said Andrii Yermak, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff.
The Ministry of Health of Ukraine has asked regional authorities to consider suspending non-essential surgeries and hospitalizations due to power outages. In a statement, the ministry said hospitals should continue to provide emergency care but planned surgeries should be temporarily suspended to ease the strain on the medical system in the event of potential future power outages.
Russia launched strikes in the Zaporizhia region, According to Oleksandr Starukh, the head of the Zaporizhia regional military administration, who published photos on Telegram in the early hours of Tuesday. The strikes have damaged critical infrastructure and residential buildings, he said.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Ukraine was shelling the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. consciously creating the danger of a possible nuclear catastrophe. Shoigu said Russian forces would take “all measures” to ensure the safety of the power plant, Europe’s largest, in the face of what he called “nuclear terrorism” from Kyiv.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it has deployed mobile coastal defense missile systems on a northern Kuril island. Part of a strategically located chain of islands stretching between Japan and Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula. Japan lays claim to the Russian-held southern Kuril Islands, which Tokyo calls the Northern Territories, a territorial array that dates back to the end of World War II when Soviet troops captured them from Japan.
An aide to the President of Ukraine said Iran has not, and may not, have supplied ballistic missiles to Russia due to diplomatic pressure and Iran’s internal political unrest. Mikhailo Podolyak told the Guardian that Russian forces currently have enough of their own cruise missiles in stock to carry out “two or three” more mass strikes against Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, like the salvo fired on Monday.
A US citizen detained by pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine over the summer has been released and remains undocumented in the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk. Suedi Murekezi, 35, told the Guardian he has been unable to leave Donetsk after spending more than four months in various prisons and basements in Russian-occupied Ukraine because he has no identity papers.
Top EU officials have promised to ensure Ukraine receives €18 billion in bailouts after Hungary vetoed the release of the funds. Earlier Victor OrbanThe government of Hungary has been accused of “holding hostage” and “cynically obstructing” funds for Ukrainian hospitals after Hungary confirmed on Tuesday it would block €18 billion in aid to Ukraine. The Orbán government’s move is widely seen as an attempt to gain clout in separate disputes over Hungary’s access to €13 billion in EU funds.