(Reuters) – Ukrainian drones operated by the GUR military intelligence agency attacked the Engels air base deep inside Russian territory early on Wednesday and Kyiv was assessing the damage, a Ukrainian intelligence source told Reuters.
The governor of the Saratov region, where the base is located, said Ukrainian drones had been downed near the city of Engels but did not report any damage.
“The results are being verified,” the Ukrainian source said of the attack.
The base is the main home of Russia’s long-range strategic bomber fleet and is located near the city of Saratov – about 730 km (450 miles) southeast of Moscow and hundreds of kilometres from the Ukrainian border.
Three Russian air force personnel died in December 2022 when a drone believed to be Ukrainian was shot down at the Saratov base.Russia has regularly conducted missile and drone attacks on targets in Ukraine since launching its full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022.
(Reporting by Tom Balmforth; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
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