Ukraine appears to expose Russian air defence gaps with long-range strikes

A satellite image shows bomber in flight at northeast of Engels Air Base in Saratov, Russia, December 3, 2022. Satellite image 2022 Maxar Technologies/Handout via REUTERS

KYIV/NOVOSOFIIVKA, Ukraine (Reuters) -A third Russian airfield was set ablaze on Tuesday by a drone strike, a day after Ukraine demonstrated an apparent new ability to penetrate hundreds of kilometres into Russian air space with attacks on two bases.

Officials in the Russian city of Kursk, around 90 km (60 miles) north of the Ukraine border, released pictures of black smoke above an airfield in Tuesday's early hours after the latest strike. The governor said an oil storage tank had gone up in flames, but there were no casualties.