Explosive drones attacked six Russian regions overnight on Wednesday and damaged four military cargo planes at an airport hundreds of miles from Ukraine, Russian officials said, suggesting that, after months of enduring missile and drone strikes with little recourse, Ukraine will be more likely to retaliate. deep inside Russia.
In what appeared to be the most successful of the strikes, four Russian Il-76 military cargo planes were destroyed while parked near a runway at an airfield in Pskov, 30 miles from the border with Estonia, a NATO member. The governor of the Russian region posted video footage of billowing smoke from an airport where he said drones had damaged planes, although the extent was unclear.
Russia also launched a wave of attacks on Ukraine early Wednesday that targeted at least three regions. Ukraine’s Air Force said it had shot down 43 of the 44 missiles and drones, although officials in Kyiv, the capital, said falling debris from drones or missiles shot down by air defense systems killed at least two people.
Local officials said the barrage was the most significant in the Kyiv region in months. But the volley of drones blasting Russia is exceptional, and appears to be the result of Ukraine’s long-standing efforts to counter Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities, infrastructure and military targets.
While Ukrainian officials have not claimed responsibility for the overnight strikes, in keeping with their practice involving attacks inside Russia, they have made it clear that they consider it a legitimate tactic to bring the war home to ordinary Russians against Moscow’s aggression.
“We all went through these Russian attacks,” Oleksandr Danylyuk, the former secretary of Ukraine’s national security and defense council, said in an interview on Wednesday. “We understand how destructive they are. It’s important to get revenge.”
The attacks destroyed important military equipment, although they did little damage to Russia’s overall military strength. They also aim to puncture Russian propaganda by showing the Russians that their military is weak, and to boost the morale of Ukrainians who want to pay.
On Wednesday, the Russian governor of the Pskov region, Mikhail Vedernikov, posted videos on the Telegram messaging app showing a large fire at night with billowing smoke, and what appeared to be air defenses fired at incoming drones.
He later wrote that an inspection of the airport had been carried out and that “everything was in order,” adding that operations would resume there on Thursday.
The Russian Defense Ministry did not respond to the event in Pskov. It said at least eight Ukrainian drones were intercepted in five regions south and southwest of Moscow. The drones were shot down in the Bryansk, Oryol, Kaluga and Ryazan regions, as well as in the Ruza district outside the Moscow region, the ministry said.
In Ukraine, explosions and the roar of the launch of air defense missiles shook Kyiv around 5 a.m. The capital was targeted by missiles and drones in the biggest attack since spring, Serhiy Popko, the leader of Kyiv regional military administration, said in a statement.
A barrage of drones flew over the city, later followed by missiles, more than 20 of which were shot down, he said. Two people in the city were killed by debris, according to Mr. Popko and the city’s mayor.
Marc Santora and Valery Safronova contributed reporting.
