Attack on airport damages Russian transport planes

A drone attack on an airport in the north-western Russian city of Pskov has damaged two military transport planes, Russian news agencies are reporting.

The Ilyushin 76 transport planes caught fire in the attack, the reports say.

The local governor said earlier the military was repelling an attack. He uploaded video showing a large fire while an explosion could also be heard.

Pskov is more than 600km (372 miles) away from Ukraine, close to the border with Estonia.

Ukraine has not said it was involved in the latest attack but it rarely comments on attacks inside Russia.

In recent weeks the country is believed to have increased its use of explosive drones to attack targets inside Russia.

In other developments:

• Russia’s military said its forces had destroyed four rapid Ukrainian boats carrying a total of about 50 soldiers in an operation on the Black Sea around midnight Moscow time (21:00 GMT). Ukraine did not comment immediately
• The Russian military said it had downed three Ukrainian drones over the southern region of Bryansk and one over the central region of Oryol
• Russia’s Tass news agency reported that airspace above Moscow’s Vnukovo airport had been closed.

“The defence ministry is repelling a drone attack on Pskov’s airport,” Pskov regional governor Mikhail Vedernikov said on Telegram.

Mr Vedernikov, who said he was at the scene of the attack, added: “According to preliminary information, there are no victims.”

An initial report from Russia’s Tass news agency, quoting emergency services, said that four Ilyushin 76 (Il-76) aircraft had been damaged with two bursting “into flames”. Ria news agency said later that two Il-76 planes had caught fire.

Pskov region was previously targeted by drones in late May.

A drone attack on Russia’s Belgorod region killed three people last week, hours after a drone hit central Moscow, Russian officials said.

It came just days after a flagship Russian long-range bomber was destroyed in a Ukrainian drone strike near the city of St Petersburg.

Although Ukraine has not said it carried out specific drone strikes, President Volodymyr Zelensky has previously said that attacks on Russian territory are an “inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process” as the war with Russia continues.