Ukraine’s military says it has hit a military airfield deep inside Russia, destroying warehouses with guided bombs.
In a statement, the military reported a huge blaze and multiple detonations at the Lipetsk airfield, more than 350km (217 miles) from Ukraine’s border, after the overnight strike.
Lipetsk’s regional authorities said a state of emergency was now in place in the area, confirming the detonations at an “energy infrastructure facility”. Residents of four nearby villages were being evacuated.
This comes as Ukraine’s army is continuing its big cross-border offensive in Russia’s western Kursk region, where a state of emergency is also in place.
Reports suggest that Ukrainian troops are operating about 10km inside Russian territory – the deepest cross-border advance by Kyiv since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Russia’s military says up to 1,000 Ukrainian troops, supported by tanks and armoured vehicles, entered the Kursk region on Tuesday morning.
It says more than 300 troops have been killed and wounded – a claim that has not been independently verified.
In an video address late on Thursday, without directly mentioning the alleged incursion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow must “feel” the consequences for its invasion of Ukraine.
“Russia brought the war to our land and should feel what it has done”, he said, without directly referencing the Ukrainian offensive.
“Ukrainians know how to achieve their goals. And we did not choose to achieve our goals in the war,” he added.