- By Robert Greenall
- BBC News
September 1, 2023 at 11:12 am BST
Updated 41 minutes ago
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Several aircraft were damaged in the attack on Pskov on Wednesday
The drone attack on an air base in the Russian city of Pskov on Tuesday was launched from inside Russia, the head of Ukrainian military intelligence said.
Kyrylo Budanov said two Ilyushin cargo planes were destroyed and two were damaged. According to Russia, four were damaged.
Mr. Budanov did not say whether the attack was carried out by Ukrainian or Russian militants.
Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia occur almost every day. It had already admitted the Pskov attack.
But Mr Budanov’s comments appear to end speculation that it was a long-range weapon.
On Thursday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said a Ukrainian-made weapon hit a target 700 kilometers away. Pskov is almost 700 km (434 miles) from the Ukrainian border.
He said the drones targeted the top of the plane – the location of the fuel tanks and a critical section of the wing spar.
The damaged planes are long-haul cargo planes, ideal for transporting troops and equipment over long distances, making them valuable war assets for Russia.
According to BBC World Affairs correspondent Paul Adams, Ukrainian officials are generally cautious about attacks inside Russia. However, it seems that as the campaign speeds up, officials in Kiev are more willing to describe it as part of the country’s war effort.
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Watch: Fire after Russian drone attack on airport, governor says
Meanwhile, drone attacks on several locations in Russia continued overnight from Thursday to Friday.
According to unconfirmed reports, a factory in the town of Lyubertsy outside Moscow that produces electronic parts for rockets was hit.
However, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in his Telegram channel that the drones were shot down over Lyubertsy without causing any damage or casualties.
As with previous attacks in the Moscow area, several flights from Moscow airports were delayed or canceled on Friday morning.
The governor of the Kursk region, Roman Starovoyt, said that a residential building and an administrative building were hit in the town of Kurchatov near the Kursk nuclear power plant.
Ukraine continues its counteroffensive into Russian-occupied territory.
The Institute for War Research announced on Thursday that advances had been made near Bakhmut in the east and west of the Zaporizhia region.