Ukrainian drone attack destroys helicopter at Russian airfield in Bryansk, media says
Ukrainian drones struck Bryansk International Airport in Russia overnight on June 6, destroying one combat helicopter and damaging another, according to Russian emergency officials cited by independent media outlet Astra.
The attack was part of a broader Ukrainian operation targeting multiple Russian airfields and military facilities the same evening.
According to Astra's sources within Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry, the attack destroyed a Mi-8 helicopter after its onboard munitions detonated. A second aircraft, a Mi-35 helicopter gunship, was also damaged, though the extent of the damage remains unclear.
The strike reportedly caused additional destruction to airport infrastructure and rescue facilities, but no casualties were reported. Sources within Ukraine's special services confirmed to Astra that Bryansk airport was among the intended targets of the attack.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify the claims.
The Mi-8 is a multipurpose utility aircraft used for troop transport, reconnaissance, and close air support. The Mi-35 is a heavily armed assault helicopter derived from the Soviet-era Mi-24, with dual capability for offensive operations and personnel transport.
Both aircraft types are actively used by Russia in its war against Ukraine.
Hours before Russia launched one of the largest aerial assaults of the war, Ukrainian forces hit strategic bomber bases at Engels and Dyagilevo, along with logistical hubs in Kursk Oblast, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported.
At the Engels-2 air base in Saratov Oblast, located roughly 600 kilometers (370 miles) from Ukraine's front lines, Ukrainian strikes ignited fires at three fuel tanks, causing large-scale explosions.
The Dyagilevo airfield in Ryazan Oblast, home to refueling tankers and fighter escorts for Russia's long-range bomber fleet, was also targeted. Fires and explosions were reported in the vicinity, and Russian air defenses were activated in the region.
Ukraine's expanded drone campaign reflects a growing capacity to strike deep into Russian territory, as Kyiv continues to target the infrastructure Moscow uses to sustain its air war.
Join our community Support independent journalism in Ukraine. Join us in this fight. Support Us
The overnight strikes come just days after the launch of Operation Spiderweb on June 1, in which Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) struck four air bases across Russia and reportedly damaged 41 bomber aircraft.
That operation alone caused over $7 billion in damage and marked a major escalation in Ukraine's ability to project force across the border, according to SBU.
Russia responded to the latest round of Ukrainian strikes by unleashing 452 drones and 45 missiles against cities across Ukraine, killing at least five people and injuring 73 in one of the heaviest barrages of the full-scale invasion.
Read also: UPDATE: Russia hits Ukraine with large-scale attack days after Operation Spiderweb
We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Politico
38 minutes ago
- Politico
Deadly Russian bombardment of Ukraine further dampens hopes for peace
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia struck Ukraine with a thunderous aerial bombardment overnight, further dampening hopes that the warring sides could reach a peace deal anytime soon days after Kyiv embarrassed the Kremlin with a surprising drone attack on military airfields deep inside Russia. The barrage was one of the fiercest of the three-year war, lasting several hours, striking six Ukrainian territories, and killing at least six people and injuring about 80 others, Ukrainian officials said Friday. Among the dead were three emergency responders in Kyiv, one person in Lutsk and two people in Chernihiv. The attack came after U.S. President Donald Trump said his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, told him Moscow would respond to Ukraine's attack Sunday on Russian military airfields. It was also hours after Trump said it might be better to let Ukraine and Russia 'fight for a while' before pulling them apart and pursuing peace. Trump's comments were a remarkable detour from his often-stated appeals to stop the war and signaled he may be giving up on recent peace efforts. Ukrainian cities have come under regular bombardment since Russia invaded its neighbor in February 2022. The attacks have killed more than 12,000 civilians, according to the United Nations. 'Russia doesn`t change its stripes,' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. The war has continued unabated even as a U.S.-led diplomatic push for a settlement has brought two rounds of direct peace talks between delegations from Russia and Ukraine. The negotiations delivered no significant breakthroughs, however, and the sides remain far apart on their terms for an end to the fighting. Ukraine has offered an unconditional 30-day ceasefire and a meeting between Zelenskyy and Russian leader Vladimir Putin to break the deadlock. But the Kremlin has effectively rejected a truce and hasn't budged from its demands. 'The Kremlin continues efforts to falsely portray Russia as willing to engage in good-faith negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, despite Russia's repeated refusal to offer any concessions,' the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said late Thursday. Further peace talks between Russia and Ukraine are expected in coming weeks, as is another exchange of prisoners of war. The attack involved 407 Russian drones and 44 ballistic and cruise missiles, Ukrainian air force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said. Ukrainian forces said they shot down about 30 of the cruise missiles and up to 200 of the drones. The Kyiv emergency workers were killed while responding to the strikes. 'They were working under fire to help people,' the Interior Ministry said in a statement. Russia's Defense Ministry said it aimed at Ukrainian military targets with 'long-range precision weapons' and successfully struck arms depots, drone factories and repair facilities, among other targets. But fitting a pattern for Russian attacks throughout the war, Friday's bombardment also struck apartment buildings and other non-military targets, Associated Press reporters observed. In Kyiv, explosions were heard for hours as falling drone debris sparked fires across several districts, said Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Administration. He urged people to seek shelter. Vitalina Vasylchenko, a 14-year-old Kyiv resident, sheltered in a parking garage with her 6-year-old sister and their mother after an explosion blew one of their windows off its hinges. 'I heard a buzzing sound, then my dad ran to me and covered me with his hand,' she said. 'Then there was a very loud explosion. My whole life flashed before my eyes — I already thought that was it. I started having a panic attack. ... I'm shocked that I'm alive.' In Kyiv's Solomyanskyi district, a fire broke out on the 11th floor of a 16-story apartment building. Emergency services evacuated three people from the burning unit. The attack caused a blackout in some areas, and more than 2,000 households on Kyiv's eastern bank were without power, city officials said. Elsewhere, 10 people were injured by an aerial attack on the western city of Ternopil, regional governor Viacheslav Nehoda said. The strike damaged industrial and infrastructure facilities, left parts of the city without electricity, and disrupted water supplies. Russia also targeted the western Lviv and Khmelnytskyi regions, the northern Chernihiv region, and the central Poltava region, where at least three people were injured. In Russia, air defenses shot down 10 Ukrainian drones heading toward the capital early Friday, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. As a precaution, flights at Moscow airports were temporarily suspended overnight Thursday into Friday and then again late Friday afternoon. Ukrainian drones also targeted three other regions of Russia, authorities said, damaging apartment buildings and industrial plants. Three people were injured, officials said. Russia's Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 174 Ukrainian drones over 13 regions early Friday. It added that three Ukrainian Neptune missiles were also shot down over the Black Sea. Ukraine struck airfields and other military targets in Russia, such as fuel storage tanks and transport hubs, the Ukrainian General Staff said. Also, a locomotive derailed early Friday in the Belgorod region after the track was blown up, Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said. Russia has recently accused Ukraine of sabotaging the rail network.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Trump scorns Merkel legacy during new German chancellor's White House visit
Donald Trump has heaped criticism on the former German chancellor Angela Merkel for opening up her country to refugees, telling her successor: 'I told her it shouldn't have happened.' During an appearance with the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, on Thursday, Trump was asked about the sweeping travel restrictions on 19 countries that he announced the previous day. 'We want to keep bad people out of our country … of course, you have a little problem too with some of the people that were allowed into your country,' Trump said to Merz, in an apparent reference to a number of attacks in Germany involving refugees. Merz replied: 'Yes we do,' before Trump continued: 'It's not your fault … It shouldn't have happened. I told her it shouldn't have happened, but it did. But you have your own difficulty with that, and we do.' He was referring to Merkel, but did not call her by name. The former chancellor visited the White House in 2017, during Trump's first term of office, when she was given a grilling by Trump over her so-called open-door policy, which allowed around 1 million refugees – mainly from Syria and Iraq – into Germany. Merz's highly anticipated visit had been viewed with trepidation in Berlin, amid fears that the German leader may face another Oval Office ambush, such as those endured by Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa. In the end, all the criticism was levied at Merkel, a former political rival of Merz. Trump also made a dig about Merkel's enthusiasm for the building of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which brought gas from Russia to Europe. During the 35-minute press conference, Merz struggled to get a word in, though as German commentators noted, that was probably to the relief of his advisers, who feared there were a number of issues on which Trump might have pilloried him, from defence spending to immigration. When he did manage to speak, the former corporate lawyer mostly focused on Ukraine and the need to end the conflict, in particular by bringing the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to account. Merz also pushed back several times on Trump's narrative that Ukraine and Russia were equally to blame for the war. Related: Trump says it may be better to let Ukraine and Russia 'fight for a while' 'I'm here, Mr President, to talk to you later on how we could contribute to that goal [to end the war]. We are all looking for measures and for instruments to bring this terrible war to an end,' Merz said. He compared the US role in ending the conflict with the part US troops played in defeating the Nazi dictatorship. He noted that Friday will mark the 81st anniversary of D-day, in which tens of thousands of US troops joined allied troops in invading Normandy. The US, he said, was 'again, in the very strong position to do something' about ending the war. Trump, he said, was the 'key person in the world' who could stop the war 'by putting pressure on Russia'. Trump praised Germany for having agreed to boost its defence spending to 5% of GDP, after years-long demands from Washington for it to do so. Asked by a German journalist whether Berlin was 'doing enough on defence', Trump said: 'I know you're spending more money on defence now. Quite a bit more money. That's a positive.' But to some nervous laughter in the room, he quipped that he was 'not sure if Gen MacArthur would have said it's positive,' a reference to the supreme commander for the allied powers, among whose focuses was postwar demilitarisation. Merz prepared for the visit in part by talking to other leaders who have met Trump in recent months to gather tips about the best way to handle him. Merkel has said that she prepared for her first Trump visit – when he was less well-known as a politician – by reading a 1980s interview with him in Playboy and watching episodes of The Apprentice. Merz was put up for the night in the official government guest house, Blair House, which his advisers said was a signal that the two leaders – who refer to one other by their first names – were on a good footing. Merz presented Trump with a gold-framed birth certificate of his grandfather, Friedrich Trump, who emigrated from Germany in 1885, as well as a book titled News from the Land of Freedom – German Immigrants Write Home, which is a collection of letters written by German émigrés in the US to their families back in Germany. 'It is a small present to remind him of his family,' Merz said. He has also invited Trump to Germany to visit his grandfather's home village.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Trump says it may be better to let Ukraine and Russia ‘fight for a while'
Donald Trump has said it may be better to let Ukraine and Russia 'fight for a while' rather than pursue peace immediately, as the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, urged him to increase pressure on Russia. During the Oval Office meeting, Trump voiced doubts about the potential success of peace talks, saying 'sometimes you're better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart'. The US president said he had told Vladimir Putin that the two countries were like 'two young children fighting like crazy in a park' when the two spoke by phone on Wednesday. Putin's reaction is not known, but the Russian leader would probably welcome the US agreeing to his previous calls for Washington to stay out of the conflict and stop providing military aid and support to Ukraine. Merz, who used his speaking time in the Oval Office to press the US president on Ukraine, told Trump that he wanted to work together to put more pressure on Russia and reminded Trump that the violence he abhorred seeing was a result of Putin's invasion of Ukraine. He told Trump that the German people owed the US gratitude for its role in defeating Nazi Germany in the second world war. 'America is again in a very strong position to do something on ending this war [in Ukraine], so let's talk about doing what we can,' he said. 'We are looking for more pressure on Russia, we should talk about that.' Related: The Guardian view on Ukraine's spectacular attack: 21st-century tactics still require support from allies | Editorial Russia has vowed to respond to Ukraine's daring drone operation 'how and when' it sees fit, the Kremlin warned, seeming to confirm reports that Putin had told Trump that Moscow was obliged to retaliate. Ukraine has been bracing for retaliation after its SBU security service carried out a surprise drone strike over the weekend, targeting four airbases and damaging up to 20 Russian warplanes deep inside the country, according to US officials. The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, asked on Thursday what Moscow's response would be, said: 'How and when our military deems it appropriate.' Trump said Putin had 'strongly' told him that Russia would respond to the recent attacks on its airfields, during an unannounced phone call on Wednesday. The US embassy in Ukraine warned of a continuing risk of 'significant airstrikes' and advised its citizens to exercise caution. Hours after Trump and Putin spoke, Russia launched a series of missiles and drones across Ukraine overnight. At least five people, including a one-year-old boy, his mother and grandmother, were killed when a drone struck a residential building in the northern Ukrainian city of Pryluky. The child was the grandson of an emergency responder, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said. 'One of the rescuers arrived to respond to the aftermath right at his own home,' Zelenskyy said in a post on Telegram. 'It turned out that a Shahed drone hit his house.' In the southern city of Kherson, a large hole was seen in an administration building after missile attacks by the Russian army. But Russian officials have suggested that Moscow has yet to respond to Ukraine's weekend drone attack, which came a day before two bridges collapsed, killing seven people – attacks Moscow blamed on Ukrainian sabotage. After Ukraine carried out its unorthodox operation using drones smuggled into Russia on trucks, pro-Kremlin war bloggers and prominent commentators posted on Russian media to demand retribution, with some calling for nuclear retaliation. While Russian officials have previously indicated their willingness to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, analysts consider the deployment of such weapons on the battlefield highly unlikely at this stage of the war. Russia's nuclear doctrine permits the use of nuclear weapons in response to attacks that pose a 'critical threat' to the country's sovereignty. In a podcast for the independent outlet Meduza, Pavel Podvig, a Geneva-based expert on Russian nuclear forces, rejected suggestions that Ukraine's recent drone strikes could justify such a response. He argued the operation did not threaten Russia's sovereignty or territorial integrity, nor did it undermine the retaliatory capacity of its strategic nuclear arsenal. A nuclear strike would also be strongly condemned by China, Russia's most influential ally, with Xi Jinping previously warning Putin against the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine. Instead, as in past responses to Ukrainian military successes, Moscow may launch a wave of deadly ballistic missile strikes – or deploy its experimental Oreshnik missile, which was used at least once last year. Ukraine has intensified its sabotage operations over the past week, including detonating underwater explosives beneath a key bridge linking Russia to the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014. On Wednesday, a visibly angry Putin for the first time reacted to the Ukrainian attacks, accusing Kyiv of 'organising terrorist attacks'. 'How can we have meetings like this under these conditions? What is there to talk about? Who has negotiations with … terrorists?' he said. Trump has not publicly commented on the Ukrainian drone operation, but sources who reportedly discussed it with him told Axios he described the attack as 'strong' and 'badass' and saw it as a setback to his diplomatic initiative to end the war. While the drone strikes dealt a tangible blow to Russia's military capacity and offered a morale boost for Kyiv, the broader picture remains less rosy for Ukraine. More than three years after launching its invasion, Russia is largely on the offensive, making steady battlefield gains in eastern Ukraine and continuing to pound Ukrainian cities and civilians with drones and missiles. Putin's forces have been advancing further into Ukraine's northern region of Sumy, threatening the regional capital after taking more than 150 sq km of the area in less than two weeks. With Putin showing no willingness to agree to a lasting ceasefire, Ukrainian officials and the military are preparing for a Russian summer offensive, with Moscow intent on advancing into the Sumy and Kharkiv regions.
