The Russian military reported on Monday that it shot down a Ukrainian drone approaching an airbase deep inside Russia, as Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he had sought India’s help with implementing a “peace formula” in a phone call with prime minister Narendra Modi.
It is the second time the Engels airbase has been targeted this month, raising questions about the effectiveness of Russia’s air defences if drones can fly that far into the country.
Russia’s defence ministry said the incident took place in the early hours of Monday, and three servicemen were killed by debris at the base, which houses the Tu-95 and Tu-160 nuclear-capable strategic bombers that have been involved in launching strikes on Ukraine.
Engels is located in Russia’s Saratov region on the Volga river, more than 600km (370 miles) east of the border with Ukraine.
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No damage was inflicted on Russian aircraft, the ministry said.
It is the second time Engels has been targeted by Ukrainian drones.
On December 5th, unprecedented drone strikes on Engels and the Dyagilevo base in the Ryazan region in western Russia killed a total of three servicemen and injured four others.
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The strikes on the airbases were followed by a large retaliatory missile barrage in Ukraine which struck homes and buildings and killed civilians.
Mr Zelenskiy’s conversation with Mr Modi comes at a time when India is seeking to strengthen trade relations with Moscow while western nations introduce new measures to limit Russia’s funding of the war.
“I had a phone call with PM Narendra Modi and wished a successful G20 presidency,” Mr Zelenskiy wrote on Twitter. “It was on this platform that I announced the peace formula and now I count on India’s participation in its implementation.”
Mr Zelenskiy asked the Group of 20 (G20) major economies last month to adopt Ukraine’s 10-point peace formula and to end the war. India holds the G20 presidency for a year.
The Indian government said in statement that the two leaders discussed opportunities for strengthening bilateral co-operation.
“The prime minister explained the main priorities of India’s G20 Presidency, including giving a voice to the concerns of developing nations on issues like food and energy security.”
Mr Modi also “strongly reiterated” his call for an immediate end to hostilities in Ukraine and conveyed India’s support for any peace efforts.
India, which has not explicitly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has emerged as the largest buyer of Russian oil after China, this month taking barrels of Urals crude at well below a $60 price cap agreed by western nations.
The country’s foreign minister has said that as the world’s third-largest consumer of oil and gas, where income levels are not high, India had to look after its own interests and called Russia “a steady and time-tested partner”.
Reuters also reported last month that Moscow had sent India a list of more than 500 products for potential delivery, including parts for cars, aircraft and trains, as sanctions squeeze Russia’s ability to keep vital industries running.
India, too, has sent Russia a list of Indian products for access to Russian markets, according to the foreign minister, as it seeks to balance bilateral trade that is now tilted towards Russia.
In Ukraine, overnight from Sunday to Monday appeared unusually quiet.
For the first time in weeks, Russian forces did not shell the Dnipropetrovsk region, which borders the partially occupied southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, its governor, Valentyn Reznichenko, reported on Telegram.
“This is the third quiet night in 5.5 months since the Russians started shelling” the areas around the city of Nikopol, he said.
Nikopol is located across the Dnieper river from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is under control of the Russian forces.
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Ukrainian-controlled areas of the neighbouring Kherson region were shelled 33 times over the past 24 hours, said Kherson’s Ukrainian governor, Yaroslav Yanushevich. There were no casualties.
On Saturday, a deadly attack on the city of Kherson, which was retaken by Kyiv’s forces last month, killed and wounded scores of people. – AP, Reuters