Three air force personnel had been killed in the incident but no planes were damaged, says Russian defence ministry
\n KYIV
\nMoscow said on Monday its forces had shot down a Ukrainian drone close to a long-range bomber base deep inside Russia, while Ukraine said the Russians had unleashed heavy artillery barrages on its cities in the past 24 hours.
\nThe drone was allegedly flying near Russia\u2019s Engels air base, where long-range strategic bombers that may have been used to target Ukrainian cities and infrastructure are based.
\nThe Russian defence ministry said in a statement three air force personnel had been killed in the incident but no planes were damaged.
\nHowever, Russian and Ukrainian social media accounts said a number of planes had been destroyed. Reuters was not able to independently verify those reports.
\nAs the war entered its 11th month, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday he was open to negotiations, and he blamed Ukraine and its Western allies for failing to engage in talks.
\nBut his forces kept up their relentless attacks, with the Ukrainian military saying early on Monday dozens of towns in the Luhansk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson and Zaporizhzia regions had been shelled.
\n\u201cIn the Kherson direction, the enemy continues artillery shelling of populated areas along the right bank of the Dnipro River,\u201d the Ukrainian military said.
\nUkrainian forces launched attacks on almost 20 Russian targets, it added.
\nUkraine\u2019s energy grid operator said power was still significantly lacking on Monday, with emergency restrictions for electricity consumption introduced in five Ukrainian regions and the capital Kyiv.
\nThe attack on the Engels air base – located near the city of Saratov, about 730 km (450 miles) southeast of Moscow and hundreds of kilometres from the frontlines in Ukraine – was the second this month.
\nIt was previously hit on Dec. 5 in what Russia said were Ukrainian drone attacks on two Russian air bases that day.
\nThe air base is one of two strategic bomber bases housing Russia\u2019s air-delivered nuclear capability. There was no comment from Kyiv, which has never publicly claimed responsibility for attacks inside Russia.
\n\u201cA Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) was shot down at low altitude while approaching the Engels military airfield in the Saratov region,\u201d the defence ministry statement said.
\nThree Russian servicemen were killed by falling drone wreckage, it said.
\nRussia has 60 to 70 strategic bomber planes of two types – the Tu-95MS Bear and the Tu-160 Blackjack. Both are capable of carrying nuclear bombs and nuclear-armed cruise missiles as well as conventional munitions. Moscow has used its air force to fire cruise missiles in attacks that Kyiv has said amount to war crimes.
\nSaratov\u2019s regional governor Roman Busargin said on Monday civilian infrastructure facilities had not been damaged in the latest incident at the base and there was no threat to residents.
\nPutin on Sunday again said he was open to negotiations – a stance Ukraine\u2019s most powerful backer, the United States, has previously dismissed as posturing given the relentless Russian attacks.
\n\u201cWe are ready to negotiate with everyone involved about acceptable solutions, but that is up to them – we are not the ones refusing to negotiate, they are,\u201d Putin said in an interview on Rossiya 1 state television.
\nAn adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Putin needed to acknowledge it was Russia that did not want talks. \u201cRussia single-handedly attacked Ukraine and is killing citizens,\u201d the adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, said on Twitter. \u201cRussia doesn\u2019t want negotiations, but tries to avoid responsibility.\u201d
\nRussian attacks on Ukraine\u2019s power stations have left millions without electricity and Zelenskiy said in an address to the nation that Moscow would aim to make the last days of 2022 dark and difficult.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Three air force personnel had been killed in the incident but no planes were damaged, says Russian defence ministry KYIV Moscow said on Monday its forces had shot down a Ukrainian drone close to a long-range bomber base deep inside Russia, while Ukraine said the Russians had unleashed heavy artillery barrages on its cities in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303687,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-303659","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n