UK intelligence: drone attack on Soltsy airfield may be carried out from Russian territory 

The UK Defense Ministry wrote about this on Twitter. 

It is noted that a Tu-22M3 medium bomber of Russian long-range aviation was probably destroyed at the Soltsy airbase, 650 km from the border with Ukraine. The Russian Defense Ministry said that the attack was carried out by an unmanned aerial vehicle of the "copter" type.

"If true, this adds weight to the assessment that some UAV attacks against Russian military targets are being launched from inside Russian territory. Copter UAVs are unlikely to have the range to reach Soltsky-2 from outside Russia," the ministry tweeted. 

According to experts, Russia has often used Tu-22M3 bombers to launch extremely inaccurate heavy AS-4 KITCHEN anti-ship missiles over Ukraine. For example, at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Mariupol in the Donetsk region was also subjected to intense bombardment with unguided bombs.

"This is at least the third successful attack on LRA airfields, again raising questions about Russia’s ability to protect strategic locations deep inside the country," the intelligence notes. 

UAV attack on Soltsy airfield: what is known

On August 19, an unidentified drone allegedly hit the Soltsy military airfield in Russia's Novgorod region. The Russian Defense Ministry accuses Ukraine of the attack.

It was noted that as a result of the terrorist attack, a fire broke out at the airfield parking lot, which was promptly extinguished by firefighters. One aircraft was damaged, and no one was injured.

Journalist Andriy Tsapliyenko noted that after the strike on the airbase, the Russians began to redeploy several Tu-22m3 aircraft to Olenya.

Russian channels published photos allegedly showing the aftermath of a drone attack on the Russian military airfield in Soltsy, Novgorod region, where Tu-22M3s were based.