Two explosions at Russian military airfields located hundreds of kilometers from the border with Ukraine could have brought the armed conflict to Russian territory on Monday. But only if the information given by various local media is confirmed, which points out that it could be a drone attack, because officially Moscow only says that it is investigating the facts.
The first explosion occurred at the Diaghilevo airbase, located in Ryazan Oblast, about 200 kilometers from Moscow. It happened in a parking area and affected a fuel truck. As a result, three people died and another six were injured. Five of them were hospitalized, reports the Tass agency.
According to the testimony that residents of the area shared on the VKontakte social network, the incident occurred between 6:30 and 6:40 in the morning.
A flight personnel training center operates at this base and, according to the Ministry of Defense, Iliushin-76 tankers are deployed there.
Also in the morning, eyewitnesses quoted by the Saratov24 television channel reported sounds of explosions in the area of the airbase located near the city of Engels, in Saratov Oblast.
The governor of the province, Román Busarguín, acknowledged that there was "a great explosion", but assured that "there were no emergency incidents." He added that "the information is being verified by the security forces."
Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov referred to the Defense Ministry and assured that Russian President Vladimir Putin was aware. "Of course. The president regularly receives information about everything that is happening from all the relevant services," Peskov said.
But several local media pointed out that it could be attacks against these facilities, where Russian strategic bombers are deployed. The Baza Telegram channel claimed that the origin of the explosion at the Saratov airfield was a drone.
"According to preliminary data, an unknown plane went down on the runway of the local airfield. Two planes were damaged as a result," the channel reported.
From Ukraine, an adviser to President Volodimir Zelensky hinted that the attack might have been a response by Ukrainian forces to past massive Russian missile attacks against the energy infrastructure of numerous Ukrainian cities.
"If you launch things into the airspace of other countries too often, sooner or later unknown flying objects will return to the place of their departure," Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhailo Podoliak wrote on Twitter.
