Ukrainian armed forces are increasingly attacking Russian radar systems - including on Russian soil. Will this trigger a massive backlash from Putin?
Kiev/Moscow - In the Ukraine war, which has been going on for more than two years, the Ukrainian army has been increasingly attacking Russian radar systems for several weeks - including those located on Russian soil. Meanwhile, fears of a new level of escalation in the war are growing. But not only in view of the arrival of thousands of Russian soldiers by President Vladimir Putin.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the threat of nuclear escalation has been part of Russian warfare. New drone attacks by Ukrainian forces on a radar facility on Russian territory may have crossed Putin's red line for the potential use of nuclear weapons, reports US news service
Newsweek
.
Ukraine successfully launches drone attack on Russian radar system again
Kamikaze drones belonging to Ukrainian military intelligence have attacked a radar facility in the town of Kovylkino in Russia's Mordovia Oblast, the Ukrainian military reported on its website. The city with around 20,000 inhabitants is around 680 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. As early as April 11, 2024, local authorities reported that two drones were shot down in Mordovia.
According to Newsweek
, the location of the radar system not far from Kovylkino, which has a population of around 20,000, houses
a 29B6 "container" over-the-horizon radar, which is part of the Russian reconnaissance and early warning network for aerospace attacks - including those by ballistic missiles .
The so-called container is part of the missile attack warning system (MARS). The first example of the container radar was built by Russia in Kovylkino in 2000-2002,
Ukrainska Pravda
reports , citing Ukrainian military sources.
How does Putin react to the Ukrainian attacks on “critical military facilities”?
And the attack on the radar system may well have crossed Putin's line. According to a presidential decree by Putin from 2020, which can be viewed on the Kremlin homepage, an attack or “enemy action on critical state or military facilities of the Russian Federation, (…) the elimination of which would disrupt the reaction of the nuclear forces” is one of the conditions for the possibility of using nuclear weapons by Russia.
These include, among others, “obtaining reliable information about the launch of ballistic missiles attacking the territory of the Russian Federation and (or) its allies” as well as “the use of nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction by the enemy on the territory of the Russian Federation and ( or) their allies”.
Further criteria mentioned in Putin's presidential decree are: "The enemy's impact on critical state or military facilities of the Russian Federation, the failure of which leads to the interruption of the response measures of the nuclear forces" and "Aggressions against the Russian Federation with conventional weapons, if the existence of the state itself is threatened.”
Ukraine had already attacked the positions in Kovylkino last week
The Ukrainian drone attack on April 11th had already caused damage to Russia. The Ukrainian military pointed out that both drones were shot down directly over the Russian military unit 84680. The building in which the command post was located was damaged as a result of the attack, Ukrainska Pravda also reports.
Russian media also confirmed that damage was caused to the building in question as a result of the Ukrainian drone attack - for example, the Russian internet newspaper
The Insider
reported on the incident
.
According to the Ukrainian online newspaper, residents reported via messaging apps that they heard explosions around 9:00 a.m. Videos are also shared on the short message service X (formerly Twitter) that show a column of smoke at the location of the container radar after the drone attack. As
Ukrainsa Pravda
also reports, the case is currently being reviewed for more specific details.
(fh)