Three Russian military airbases came under attack by combat drones that Moscow says were launched from Ukrainian territory.
The attacks coincided with a fresh round of Russian artillery strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities, which have further degraded the country’s beleaguered power grid.
On Dec. 6, a military airfield near the Russian city of Kursk—located 60 miles north of the Ukrainian border—was attacked by combat drones, setting an oil tank ablaze.
One day earlier, two other airfields inside Russian territory, including one that hosts Russia’s strategic bomber fleet, were subject to similar drone strikes.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the twin attacks left three servicemen dead and caused significant damage to two aircraft.
While Kyiv didn’t claim responsibility, the attacks were lauded by Ukrainian military officials.
U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price was quick to assert that Washington hadn’t prompted Ukraine to strike targets inside Russian territory.
“We are not enabling Ukraine to strike beyond its borders,” Price told reporters on Dec. 6. “We are not encouraging Ukraine to strike beyond its borders.”
However, he went on to say that there was no confirmation that Ukrainian forces had carried out the strikes.
Some observers have noted that the airbase attacks were immediately preceded by a two-day visit to Kyiv by Victoria Nuland, U.S. undersecretary for political affairs.
Nuland, who met President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other top Ukrainian officials on Dec. 3, has a long association with domestic Ukrainian politics.
In 2014, while serving as assistant secretary of state under the Obama administration, Nuland played a pivotal role in Ukraine’s 2014 “Maidan Revolution.”
Moscow views that event, which led to the ouster of Ukraine’s Russia-leaning president and was openly backed by Washington, as an illegitimate “coup d’etat.”
Fresh Strikes on Ukraine
The first two attacks on Russian airbases coincided with a fresh wave of Russian artillery strikes on energy infrastructure in several parts of Ukraine.Energy facilities were targeted in west-central Ukraine, in the southern Odesa region, and near Kyiv, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said in a statement.
According to Shmyhal, the country’s electricity grid has continued to function—for the most part—despite the barrages.
Ukrainian officials, however, have since reported power outages in several areas, with Kyiv’s regional governor estimating that 40 percent of the region’s residents had been left without electricity.
Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of Zelenskyy’s office, said two people were killed by strikes in the southern Zaporizhzhia region.
In a video address, Zelenskyy claimed that Ukrainian air-defense batteries had successfully “shot down most of the missiles” fired by Russian forces.
Since Oct. 10, Russia has carried intermittent drone and artillery strikes on energy facilities throughout Ukraine, including in and around Kyiv.
Ukrainian officials and most of their Western allies say the Russian strikes target civilians and therefore constitute “war crimes.”
Moscow, for its part, insists that the strikes don’t target civilian areas and are intended to wear down Ukraine’s military capacity.
Calls Mount for Peace Talks
On the diplomatic front, recent days have seen mounting calls by Western leaders for a diplomatic solution to the conflict, now in its 10th month.On Dec. 6, Russian ambassador to the U.N. Vassily Nebenzia, speaking before the Security Council, said that “a significant majority” of U.N. member states now support a negotiated settlement.
“We confirm our willingness to conduct negotiations,” Nebenzia said.
He added, however, that any future talks must “eradicate the root causes that forced us to start our special military operation.”
On Dec. 3, French President Emmanuel Macron called for extending “security guarantees” to Russia in exchange for the latter ending its invasion of Ukraine.
During a state visit to Washington, Macron urged Ukraine’s Western allies to address Moscow’s concerns that NATO’s continued eastward expansion had brought the alliance “right up to [Russia’s] doorstep.”
Since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, NATO has steadily expanded eastward, inching ever closer to the Russian border.
Moscow has long insisted that the absorption by NATO of former Soviet republics—such as Ukraine—poses an “existential threat” to its security.
In a Dec. 5 interview with U.S. news outlet CBS, Macron said the only way to resolve the ongoing conflict was “through negotiations.”
But the following day, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman appeared to pour cold water on the idea.
Sherman reiterated U.S. demands for a complete Russian withdrawal from “illegally annexed” territories as a precondition for negotiations.
She also said the United States had adequate resources to continue arming the Ukrainian military, calling on Kyiv’s Western allies to “stay the course.”
The same day, U.S. lawmakers agreed to provide Ukraine with an additional $800 million in security assistance.
In September, Moscow formally incorporated four regions of Ukraine into the Russian Federation based on the results of referendums held in all four territories.
Kyiv and its Western allies reject the legitimacy of the move, which they say amounts to the illegal annexation of territory by Russia.
