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The Russian military said on Monday that it shot down a Ukrainian drone that was approaching a Russian airbase. This is the second time this month that the airbase has been targeted, raising doubts about the efficacy of Russia’s air defenses if drones can travel so far into the nation.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said the incident took occurred in the early hours of Monday, and three personnel were killed by debris at the Engels airbase that houses the Tu-95 and Tu-160 nuclear-capable strategic bombers that have been involved in launching strikes on Ukraine.
Engels is located in the Saratov region of Russia on the Volga, more than 600 kilometers (more than 370 miles) east of the Ukrainian border.
No damage was caused to Russian aircraft, according to the ministry.
It is the second time that Ukrainian drones have targeted Engels; on December 5, unprecedented drone strikes against Engels and the Dyagilevo facility in the Ryazan region of western Russia killed a total of three servicemen and injured four others. The attacks on the airbases were followed by a tremendous barrage of retaliation missiles in Ukraine, which targeted residential areas and killed civilians.
Sunday night into Monday morning appeared to be abnormally peaceful in Ukraine. Governor Valentyn Reznichenko claimed on Telegram that for the first time in weeks, Russian soldiers did not shell the Dnipropetrovsk region, which borders the partially occupied southern districts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
Reznichenko wrote, “This is the third peaceful night in 5.5 months since the Russians began pounding” the districts surrounding the city of Nikopol. Nikopol is situated across the Dnieper River from the nuclear power facility in Zaporizhzhia, which is under the control of Russian soldiers.
According to Kherson’s Ukrainian governor, Yaroslav Yanushevich, Ukrainian-controlled regions of the neighboring Kherson region were shelled 33 times in the past day. There was no loss of life.
On Saturday, a lethal assault on the city of Kherson, which was recaptured by Kyiv’s forces last month, resulted in a number of deaths and injuries.
»Russia shoots down a Ukrainian drone near its airbase in Engels«