Military facility situated 300 miles from Ukrainian border has been used to launch strikes, analysts say.
Three servicemen have been killed as a Ukrainian drone was shot down near an air base deep into Russian soil, Moscow has said
The Russian troops were technical staff and died “as a result of the fall of the wreckage of the drone” near Engels air base early on Boxing Day, Russia’s foreign ministry claimed, insisting that no Russian aviation equipment was damaged.
It came after Moscow launched more than 10 rocket attacks on the Kupiansk district in the Kharkiv region and shelled more than 25 towns along the Kupiansk-Lyman frontline on Christmas Day, while nearly 20 towns were hit in Zaporizhzhia, according to Ukraine‘s top military command.
Russia’s defence ministry said it killed about 60 Ukrainian servicemen a day earlier along the Kupiansk-Lyman line of contact and destroyed numerous pieces of Ukrainian military equipment.
Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin claimed Russia was ready to negotiate – but that that Kyiv and its Western backers refused to engage, a stance Washington dismissed as posturing due to the continued attacks.
