Videos emerged on Monday evening showing Ukrainian attacks in the Kursk region.
After denying the strikes, Moscow admitted on Tuesday that it had been targeted by American ATACMS missiles.
We take stock of what we know about this attack.
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War in Ukraine: attacks in Russia are increasing
Putin's threats do not cool the Ukrainians. After receiving authorization to strike Russia with long-range American missiles, the Ukrainian army is increasing strategic attacks on enemy territory. The latest example, kyiv is said to have targeted an airfield located in the Kursk region with American ATACMS missiles on the evening of November 25.
Missile hits Russian territory
From 9 p.m., the first rumors appeared on Russian and Ukrainian Telegram accounts. “Two ATACMS missiles” hit the Kursk airfield, written for example the CyberBoroshno channel. Ukrainians “hit an airfield in the Kursk region with ATACMS missiles”indicates a Russian pilot on his Telegram account. Information initially denied by Moscow. The country's Ministry of Defense assures in the evening that “anti-aircraft defense means” of the Russian armed forces “have slaughtered” all American-made missiles sent by kyiv.
Except that at the same time, the first videos of the event appear on social networks (new window). If they prove that strikes were indeed intercepted by Russian anti-aircraft defenses, we discover that at least one of them actually fell on Russian territory, causing a large explosion. And based on the visual clues compared to the geolocation data visible below, all of this content was captured from a building on the road (new window)which leads to the Kursk-Vostochn airfield.
In total, several different pieces of content document at least one strike that hit Russia. Faced with these elements, the Kremlin had an extremely rare reaction. Less than 20 hours after this attack, he acknowledged that of the eight ATACMS missiles launched in the evening, not only did one of them hit Russian territory, but above all it “reaches its target”. “Examination of the attacked sites confirmed that the Ukrainian armed forces used American-made ATACMS missiles,” specifies the ministry (new window).
Via its official Telegram channel and its press outlets, the Kremlin went even further. On Tuesday evening, he published photos of the rockets. On one of them, we can identify a Pantsir, this Russian-made anti-aircraft vehicle. Satellite data posted online by Ukrainian media (new window) and also visible on Google Maps (new window)confirm that it has been installed on the targeted air base at least since July.
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It remains to be seen what damage this attack may have caused. Although a large explosion is visible on all the videos, none allows us to distinguish the affected infrastructure. According to satellite data studied by Frontelligence Insight (new window)a Ukrainian analysis group, the airfield had begun to “accommodate SU-25 air support aircraft, helicopters and drones”.
“Activity on the base had decreased significantly in recent days, which makes it unclear whether a significant number of aircraft were affected”notes this analysis group. For its part, the Russian Ministry of Defense has only recognized that “infrastructure was slightly damaged”without specifying its nature. “Two soldiers were slightly injured by missile fragments”added the authorities. Before warning again that they were preparing “retaliatory actions”.
