KYIV: Russia said on Monday its military hit Ukrainian air bases in overnight strikes and Ukrainian forces shelled industrial facilities inside Russia as both sides sought the upper hand ahead of what Kyiv hopes will be a decisive counter-offensive.
In a rare acknowledgement of damage to a military “target”, Ukraine said that work was under way to restore a runway and that five aircraft were taken out of service in the western region of Khmelnitskiy, although it did not name the site or sites.
A large military airfield was located in the region before the war.
“At the moment, work is continuing to contain fires in storage facilities for fuel and lubricants and munitions,” the Khmelnitskiy regional governor’s office said. Russian state-owned news agency RIA cited the defence ministry as saying more than one air base had been hit, but there was no confirmation from Ukraine of damage to any other air bases.
The Ukrainian capital came under attack for the 16th time this month after a second successive night of bombardment.
But officials said most of the drones and missiles fired overnight had been shot down and no targets were hit in the morning. –Agencies
