Ukrainian forces on Wednesday attacked an oil depot near a key military airfield in southern Russia, part of a campaign that inflicts pain deep inside the country even as Kiev’s forces are losing ground on the country’s battlefields. It was announced that.
The military said it attacked the Crystal oil storage facility in Engels, about 300 miles from the border between the two countries. The agency said the depot was supplying fuel to Engels Field. Engels Airfield is said to be the base of Russia’s long-running offensive against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and is home to some of Russia’s long-range nuclear-capable bombers.
Russian officials wrote on the messaging app Telegram that they had been hit by a “massive” drone attack. Engels was targeted. The governor of the Saratov region, Roman Busargin, said that air defense forces intercepted the drone, but falling debris It collided with an “industrial facility” and a fire broke out. No one was hurt, Busergin wrote.
Kiev has repeatedly targeted the base and sought to limit attacks on Ukraine’s energy systems, which have plunged the city into darkness, destroyed Ukraine’s power grid and left authorities scrambling for alternative power options. I decided to do it.
The attack comes amid what appears to be a new offensive by Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region of western Russia. In Kursk, Ukrainian forces captured about 500 square miles of territory in a surprise cross-border invasion last summer, and heavy fighting has been reported on both sides in recent days.
Russia has since regained about half of the territory it lost. Analysts say the new offensive appears to be an attempt by Ukraine to regain momentum and project power before President-elect Donald J. Trump takes office.
Trump vowed to end the war quickly, but did not say how. This has raised concerns that the administration will cut off military aid to Ukraine. The Biden administration is rushing to secure additional aid for Kiev ahead of Trump’s swearing-in on January 20.
On Wednesday, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin is traveling to Germany to meet on Thursday with a coalition of allies he has convened to discuss Ukraine’s security needs following a full-scale Russian invasion in 2022. This will be Austin’s 25th and last time. – Meeting with a group of approximately 50 countries.
The meeting will “focus on the need to ensure the continued provision of key capabilities such as air defense systems, artillery shells and armored vehicles.” According to the Department of Defense.
Pentagon officials asked reporters Wednesday if they were concerned about the future of the coalition after Trump becomes president. said They were confident that their European allies would continue their efforts regardless of whether the new U.S. administration reduced their support.
The scale of the new Kursk offensive remains unclear, but military analysts say it is also an attempt to force Russia to divert troops from the front lines in eastern Ukraine, where it has been steadily wearing down Kiev’s defenses to seize new ground. suggests that it is possible. .
Russia’s Defense Ministry announced on Monday that its forces had captured the strategic town of Krahov in eastern Ukraine after months of intense fighting.
