DRONE STRIKES WREAK HAVOC IN RUSSIA.

Strikes land as Zelenskyy visits near front line

•Inanew display of defiance from Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy travelled to an eastern city near the front line Tuesday while two more strategic sites inside Russia were reportedly hit by drone attacks.

A fire blamed on a drone attack broke out at an airport in Russia's southern Kursk region, the region's governor said Tuesday. In a second incident, an industrial plant 80 km from the Ukrainian border was also targeted by drones, Russian independent media reported, apparently missing a fuel depot.

Officials in the Russian city of Kursk, located close to Ukraine, released pictures of black smoke above an airfield early Tuesday.

The strikes were carried out a day after Moscow blamed Kyiv for unprecedented drone attacks on two airbases deep inside Russia, and carried out another wave of missile strikes on Ukrainian territory.

Marking Ukraine's Armed Forces Day, Zelenskyy travelled to the Donetsk region and vowed to push Russian forces out of Ukraine territory.

“Everyone sees your strength and your skill. I'm grateful to your parents. They raised real heroes,” Zelenskyy said in a video address to Ukrainian forces from Sloviansk.

Ukrainian officials have not formally confirmed carrying out the drone attacks. But presidential adviser Mikhail Podolyak taunted Moscow in comments on Twitter. “If something is launched into other countries' airspace, sooner or later unknown flying objects will return to the point of departure,” Podolyak wrote. “The earth is round.”

The attacks on Russian bases — more than 500 km from the border with Ukraine — exposed the vulnerability of some of Russia's most strategic military sites, raising questions about the effectiveness of their air defences. They also threatened a major escalation of the war.

Russia's Defence Ministry said three Russian servicemen were killed and four others wounded by debris.

The ministry didn't say where the drones had originated. But Russian military bloggers said they likely were launched by Ukrainian scouts, and argued the strikes had inflicted serious reputational damage on Moscow.

The attacks on the Engels base in the Saratov region and the Dyagilevo base in western Russia were part of Ukraine's efforts to curtail Russia's long-range bomber force, the ministry said.

In a daily intelligence update on the war in Ukraine, Britain's Defence Ministry said Russia was likely to consider the base attacks as “some of the most strategically significant failures of force protection since its invasion of Ukraine.”

Russia, meanwhile, maintained intense attacks on Ukrainian territory, shelling towns near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.