Russia experienced some of its most “strategically significant failures” on Monday when there were explosions within the country’s borders, according to the latest update from UK intelligence.
For the most part, Russian land and its population who aren’t on the frontline, have been kept far away from the violence of the frontline unlike their Ukrainian counterparts.
But this week, after months of targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure, explosions were heard at two Russian military bases.
The Ministry of Defence in its update on Tuesday: “The cause of the explosions have not been confirmed.
“However, if Russia assesses the incidents were deliberate attacks, it will probably consider them as some of the most strategically significant failures of force protection since its invasion of Ukraine.”
Two heavy bombers were reportedly damaged at Engels Airbase while three people were also killed when a fuel tank exploded at Dyagilyaevo.
As the MoD pointed out: “The sites are much deeper inside Russia than previous similar explosions.”
Engels Airbase, where multiple sources claimed there were explosions in the Saratov Oblast, is more than 450 miles from eastern Ukrainian.
It’s the main operating base of Russia’s Long Range Aviation within the western part of Russia too, and accommodates more than 30 heavy bombers.
“These aircraft contribute to Russia’s nuclear deterrent and have also frequently been used to launch conventional cruise missile at Ukraine,” the UK officials explained.
The MoD believes the Kremlin will temporarily move bombers to dispersal airfields instead – and seek to punish those who allowed the explosions to slip through the net.
Meanwhile, Dyagilevo is less than 150 miles from Russia’s capital Moscow.
In their daily tweet update, the officials said: “The Russian chain of command will probably seek to identify and impose severe sanctions on Russian officers deemed responsible for allowing the incident.”
Kyiv has not directly claimed responsibility for any of these raids.
On Tuesday, Russia also claimed it had repelled a different drone attack on an air base in the Kursk region, located much closer to Ukraine.
The governor of the city said an oil storage tank had been bombarded but there were no casualties.
Meanwhile Ukraine is still trying to restore power across the country after latest Russian missile attacks triggered multiple blackouts which severely threaten communities as a bleak winter looms.
Despite its military failures Russia has repeatedly claimed that peace talks can only happen once its so-called “special military operation” has been fulfilled.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: “That the outcome should be a just and durable peace – one can agree with this. But as for the prospects for some sort of negotiation, we do not see any at the moment.”