Ukraine unleashed a series of drone attacks on six different areas of Russia last night. One of the strikes hit an airport and damaged several transport planes.
Drone strikes overnight hit at least six Russian cities, including Pskov, more than 370 miles from Ukraine, where an attack on the military and civilian airport destroyed two Il-76 cargo planes and damaged four others, according to Baza, a Russian media outlet with links to the country’s law enforcement.
The overnight swarm of drones, presumed to have been launched by Ukraine, temporarily forced some of Russia’s biggest airports to halt operations and left soldiers firing at the unpiloted aerial vehicles with small arms, demonstrating the ability of Kyiv or its proxies to attack deep within Russian territory. The airstrikes were the largest by Kyiv since President Vladimir Putin ordered his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022…
Although Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the drone attacks, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense released a cryptic message on the platform formerly known as Twitter that appeared to hint at Ukraine’s responsibility: “Did you know that Pskov Airport is named after Kyivan Princess Olha? Oh, what a spectacularly vengeful woman she was!”…
The Russian opposition media outlet We Can Explain, which is associated with the exiled Russian businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky, quoted two witnesses in Pskov as stating that there were no sounds of air defenses working as the drones began attacking. Residents in Pskov saw three Il-76s taking off after the attack, local media reported.
Video from Pskov shows one plane completely on fire.
A much better quality video of 2 burned down IL-76 military transport planes at the airfield attacked by Ukrainian drones in Pskov during the night. These drones are taking off from within Russia, just several kilometers away from their targets. 4x IL-76 and 1x Tu-22 destroyed. pic.twitter.com/jhoVH5N0Jg
— Igor Sushko (@igorsushko) August 30, 2023
Here’s another angle on the burning airport:
Pskov military airbase burning. A fun fact: the airbase is named after Princess Olha, a Kyiv princess appropriated by Russia. She was famous for having revenged her husband’s death by sending birds with burning stripes attached to them, destroying enemies. pic.twitter.com/ILkQtzOZtU
— Sergej Sumlenny (@sumlenny) August 30, 2023
I wasn’t familiar with this particular plane but it’s a very large cargo plane. If they lost four of these that’s a huge loss.
This is an Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft. Russian sources say four of them were destroyed by drones on the night of August 29-30. They cost about $110 million each.
📷 by bomberpilot – DSC_5124, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://t.co/pOGVah6rmK pic.twitter.com/gnwB3eMhlD
— Michael MacKay (@mhmck) August 30, 2023
It’s really big.
Touching Down with Power! Ilyushin IL-76 owning runway 23R at @manairport 👏✈️ #AviationMastery #IL76Landing @AkageraAviation pic.twitter.com/ZwSXors7MU
— Abayomi Ahmed (@AbayomiAhmed00) August 30, 2023
Russia responded with a pretty large barrage of their own drones.
Kyiv officials meanwhile said Russia hit the Ukrainian capital with a “massive” bombardment overnight. “Kyiv has not experienced such a powerful attack since spring,” Serhii Popko, the head of the city’s Military Administration, said on Telegram…
Two people were killed – men aged 26 and 36 years old – and three people sustained injuries of varying severity from falling debris, according to the Kyiv City Military Administration.
So this is another embarrassment for Russia and you could clearly tell that was the case from the response of chief propagandist Vladimir Solovyov. I’m willing to bet that before the invasion Solovyov was planning on a quick victory which he could milk for his own ends. Instead he’s had 18 months of bad news that he has to somehow explain and justify. Yesterday he was so angry he shouted for about ten minutes, demanding Russia use nuclear weapons to obliterate its enemies. “Enough whining! Sniveling wimps are everywhere!” he shouted. Also, have to say he’s wearing the perfect track suit for this angry rant. What a complete goon he is.
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