MOSCOW ($1=68.37 Russian Rubles) — The Russian Defense Ministry says that on the morning of December 26th, air defenses at the Engels air base shot down a Ukrainian drone. According to the press release, the target was the base itself and the Russian nuclear bombers that had landed there. BulgarianMilitary.com recalls that the Engels base is home to Russian T-95 and Tu-160 bombers, which can carry nuclear weapons.
According to sources, three Russian servicemen have died as a result of falling debris from the Ukrainian drone. The governor of the Saratov region, Roman Busargin, confirmed the death of the three Russian soldiers.
Ukraine denies the attack. Kyiv has never openly claimed responsibility for attacks in Russia but calls them “karma” for Russia’s invasion. Some social media accounts claim that there is a destroyed bomber, but these claims remain unproven.
According to some analysts, the drone that was shot down near the Russian Engels air base was a Tu-141 model – the same one that carried out the first attack on December 5 at the same base.
About Tu-141
Tu-141 is a reconnaissance drone. Its first flight was in 1974 and it entered service in 1979. The reconnaissance drone is equipped with cameras for video surveillance and photography. There is no exact information on what exactly this equipment was, but it is assumed that in the 1970s it was most likely equipped with old filmstrips or some other type of infrared camera.
The drone was designed to penetrate deep into the enemy’s airspace, carry out its reconnaissance activity and return to land on a specially selected runway after deploying its parachute, which would drastically reduce the speed of wintering. The range, according to some military experts, of this drone was just under 1,000 km or 620 miles.
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 21 February 2022, the Russian government claimed that Ukrainian shelling had destroyed an FSB border facility on the Russia Ukraine border, and claimed that it had killed 5 Ukrainian soldiers who tried to cross into Russian territory. Ukraine denied being involved in both incidents and called them a false flag.
On the same day, the Russian government formally recognized the self-proclaimed DPR and LPR as independent states, according to Putin not only in their de-facto controlled areas, but the Ukrainian regions as a whole, and Putin ordered Russian troops, including tanks, to enter the regions.
On 24 February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine by Russian Armed Forces previously concentrated along the border. The invasion followed by targeted airstrikes of military buildings in the country, as well as tanks entering via the Belarus border.
Russia has so far not recognized the invasion of Ukraine as a “war”, although that is exactly what it is, claiming that it is a “special military operation”. According to the UN, in which Russia has its permanent representation, for military action to be defined as a “special military operation”, it must have a resolution issued by the UN. There is no such resolution, which automatically defines the military actions of the Russians as an invasion and war against the citizens of Ukraine.
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