“There will soon be no safe places in the European part of Russia,” writes one war blogger about the Pskov attack.
Saana Uosukainen,
Justas Stasevskij
Early on Wednesday, Ukraine struck the Pskov airport in Russia devastatingly.
According to Russia, four Ilyushin Il-76 transport planes were destroyed in the attack. Spokesman of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Marija Zakharova according to which Russia will retaliate against the attacks.
Ukraine has confirmed in the afternoon that it is behind the attacks.
In Russia, the Pskov attack was softened
In the Russian media and social media, the drone attacks were widely covered.
Russia’s most famous propagandist Vladimir Solovyov commented on the attacks in the morning on his TV show.
Soloviev started the program by saying “good morning” and went on about how there really wasn’t anything good about this morning. He threatened that if the drone attack was carried out from the Baltics, then the countries should be destroyed.
In Ukraine, Soloviev’s morning appearance has caused particular hilarity. Ukrainians have shared Soloviev’s comments about the Pskov attack on social media.
In their news, Russian media emphasize repelled drone attacks instead of destruction. In particular, the destruction of the Pskov attack does not want to be acknowledged. War bloggers, on the other hand, criticize the fact that the Pskov airport attack was possible.
Ukraine has tried to attack many targets, says Russia news agency Tass Wednesday morning and times where airplanes have been spotted all over Russia last night.
Tass tells about the downing of Ukrainian drones in Sevastopol and in central Russia in the Bryansk and Orlovsk regions. According to Tassi, several Ilyushin Il-76 military transport planes were damaged by fire at Pskov Airport.
Russian media have also reported on the closure of airports in Moscow and Pskov.
Russian independent news website Medusa according to the attack on Pihkova field, 10-20 drones were used.
War bloggers followed closely and criticized
In Russia, war bloggers have wondered on the messaging service Telegram, among other things, how the Pskov attack was carried out and Tassi’s way of reporting the matter.
War blogger Kirill Fedorov has criticized Tassi’s way of not telling the whole truth. His post shows a sea of flames, which according to Fedorov has not only damaged the plane, but the fire has been devastating.
Voennii osvedomitel– the war blogger writing under the pseudonym says that the Ukrainians also tried to hit the telephone mast in Bryansk. He has posted a video of the Pskov airport fire on Telegram.
A blogger using the nickname Voenkor Kitten has posted a satellite image of the field in Pskov. In his update, he estimated that the Ukrainians chose that field because of its location, when the Russians did not think it was a possible target. According to the war blogger, it is difficult to repair machines damaged in an attack.
A self-proclaimed war reporter Sasha Kots on the other hand, estimates that NATO helped Ukraine in the drone attack on Pskov. According to him, new plans should be made in the European part of Russia to protect military and strategic facilities, because it is no longer safe there.
Posting video material from Russia on Telegram Mash said that one of the airplanes was damaged by a Russian microelectronics factory known as “Kremnii” in the Bryansk region. The plane had landed in the factory area when it had been shot down.
A restrained reaction in Ukraine
The Ukrainian media has moderated the news about the attack on Pskov airport. The strike has not become headline news in all major media outlets.
Representative of the security services of Ukraine Andriy Yusov has confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that Ukraine has destroyed four Ilyushin Il-76s, and that other aircraft would have been damaged in addition to these. Advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Anton Gerashchenko has written that the price of one Il-76 plane would be around 86 million dollars.
However, Ukrainian war bloggers have been diligently updating information about the attacks. Ukrainian bloggers talk about up to seven damaged or destroyed aircraft.