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Dec. 26 (UPI) -- Three military personnel were killed after Ukraine conducted a drone strike on an air base behind Russia's borders, the Russian Defense Ministry said Monday. Moscow claimed the drone was shot down while approaching the Engels military air base in the Saratov region of Russia around 1:35 a.m. on Monday, according to Russian state media and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
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"As a result of the fall of the wreckage of the drone, three Russian servicemen of the technical staff who were at the air base were fatally wounded," the statement said.
Yuriy Ihnat, spokesman for Ukraine's Air Force, told the independent Ukrainian news agency Interfax that "these incidents are the consequences of Russian aggression."
"What happened is another 'bavovna clapping' that we are already accustomed to hearing. This is a consequence of what Russia is doing on our land," he said.
"If the Russians thought that the war would not touch anyone in the rear, then they were wrong. As you can see, such things are happening more and more often, and let's hope that this will benefit Ukraine."
Ihnat added that more about the actual consequences of the strike will be known when satellite images of the air base emerge in a few days.
Roman Busargin, the governor of Russia's Saratov region, said in a statement on Telegram that there was no threat to any residents in the area and that civil infrastructure facilities were not damaged.
The Engels air base is located 434 miles from territory controlled by Kyiv in eastern Ukraine and is home to Russian Tu-160 and Tu-95MS strategic bombers and other aircraft used to attack Ukraine.
Russian officials claimed that the base was previously hit in a strike on Dec. 5.
