By Deborah Haynes and Artem Lysak
Ukraine has conducted "coordinated strikes" overnight against a military airbase inside Russia, targeting Russian fighter planes, a Ukrainian source has told Sky News.
The operation, which took place early on Friday morning, included attacks against Russian SU-34 fighter-bombers, which have been used by the Russian military to hit Ukrainian forces in Ukraine, the military source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"The Morozovsk military airfield hosts potent fast jet capabilities, SU-34s, which launch strikes onto frontline Ukrainian troops," the source said.
"This strike will impede Russia's ability to conduct such strikes in the future and allow Ukrainian troops to push back Russian ground forces with a reduced threat of air attack."
There has been no official confirmation of the strikes against the airfield by either Ukraine or Russia.
But, the Russian defence ministry was quoted by local media as saying that Russian air defences downed 53 Ukrainian drones overnight, most of them over the Rostov region.
