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What the 5 December 2022 strikes revealed
Summary
A look back at a day of long-range drone attacks on Russian air bases and renewed Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure.
What was known by 6 December 2022 about the previous day's exchange of long-range strikes? Reports dated 5 December 2022 described two separate attacks, one in each direction, that together showed how far the war reached beyond the front line.
Russia said a long-range drone attack on its Dyagilevo Air Base and Engels-2 Air Base had killed three servicemen, injured four others and damaged two aircraft. The claim came from Russia, and the bases were in western Russia, far from the fighting.
On the same day, Russian forces launched another wave of cruise missile strikes on Ukraine. In Zaporizhzhia Oblast, homes were destroyed and two people were killed. Damage to critical infrastructure also caused power outages in many other areas.
Two kinds of pressure
The reports pointed to a pattern: Russia continued its campaign against Ukrainian infrastructure, hitting both civilian housing and the power supply, while Russia itself reported an attack deep inside its own territory. The reports gave casualty and damage figures for the Russian bases and for Zaporizhzhia Oblast, but nothing more on the wider consequences, which only later reporting could address.
