FT: Ukraine drone strikes show Russia it has "no safe zones"

Kyiv has recently shown that it could conduct long-range strikes without western equipment after it launched locally made drones that hit three military bases deep inside Russia - one only 160km from Moscow.

Ukrainian defence officials and analysts said the attacks - which Russia said killed three people and “slightly damaged” two aircraft - are part of a new tactic that seeks to disrupt Russian military planning and rattle public opinion by showing that nowhere is safe, Financial Times reports.

“The attacks are repeatable. We have no limitation on distance and soon we will be able to reach all targets inside Russia - including in Siberia,” said a Ukrainian government defence adviser who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Ukraine’s government has not publicly taken responsibility for the strikes and many of the details remain secret, as is typical with Kyiv’s other special operations, such as a combined air and marine drone attack on a Russian naval base at Sevastopol in October.

But what sets Ukraine’s latest attacks apart is their range and that they penetrated Russian air defences to hit strategic military bases previously considered invulnerable.

Defence officials and analysts said one lasting result of the attacks could be Russia dispersing its armed forces inside the country, which would help safeguard them but complicate operations.

“These attacks...  will certainly make the Russians less confident...  They will have to think about how they distribute military assets and keep them safe,” said a western defence official. “The Russians will be doubting their ability to defend their strategic assets in [the country].”

Russian Defence Ministry reported a drone attack on airfields on December 5. They blamed Ukraine for the incident. The Ukrainian Defence Ministry's spokesman Andriy Yusov stressed that it was impossible to confirm or deny the involvement of Ukraine in the explosions.

Meanwhile, the NYT daily quoted its sources as saying that the drones attacking the Russian airfields on December 5 morning had been launched from Ukraine’s territory. One of the strikes was allegedly carried out with the help of Ukrainian special forces.

According to the latest satellite data, at least one Tu-95 strategic bomber was damaged as a result of the strike on the Engels airfield.