Ukraine attacked an airfield deep inside Russian territory in a single day, officers mentioned on Thursday, as the 2 sides traded strikes amid efforts by the Trump administration to hammer out particulars of a partial cease-fire.
The assault on the Russian airfield got here hours after President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine spoke to President Trump and accepted the Kremlin’s provide to mutually pause assaults on vitality targets for 30 days as a step towards a broader cease-fire. On Thursday, Russia and Ukraine mentioned that they might maintain conferences with U.S. officers — individually — in Saudi Arabia early subsequent week.
Russia’s protection ministry mentioned that it had shot down 54 Ukrainian drones within the Saratov area in a single day. The area is dwelling to the Engels airfield, which hosts a few of Russia’s long-range, nuclear-capable bombers. Whereas the ministry didn’t say what number of drones had evaded air defenses, The New York Instances confirmed that a minimum of one strike focused the airfield in Engels shortly after dawn on Thursday.
Movies and pictures shared by witnesses on social media and verified by The Instances confirmed an explosion and a big plume of darkish smoke rising from the bottom, and loud secondary explosions after the strike. The strike appeared to focus on part of the airfield with a number of warehouses, which is described on-line as a weapons storage space.
The governor of the Saratov area, Roman Busargin, mentioned on Thursday that civilians residing close to the airfield had been being evacuated “for security causes” due to a fireplace on the bottom. About 30 homes had been broken in a single day, he added in a publish on the Telegram messaging app.
Ukraine’s navy confirmed in a press release that it had attacked the airfield. Kyiv has beforehand focused the bottom, which it calls a staging ground for Russia’s long-running assaults on Ukrainian vitality infrastructure.
