Russia’s Defense Ministry in a statement confirmed the attacks, saying they damaged aircraft and sparked fires on air bases in the Irkutsk region, as well as the Murmansk region in the north. It said strikes were also repelled in the Amur region in Russia’s Far East and in the western regions of Ivanovo and Ryazan, the ministry said.

Representatives from Russia and Ukraine gather for peace talks in Istanbul. The meeting comes after the two countries each launched large-scale drone attacks on one another over the weekend, including an audacious Ukrainian strike on Russia's bomber aircraft fleet.

The head of Ukraine's SBU sec urity service, Lieutenant General Vasyl Malyuk, said on Monday that Kyiv hit 41 aircraft, including Tu-95 and Tu-22 strategic bom bers Russia has used extensively to fire long-range missiles at Ukraine.

Russian pro-military bloggers called it “our Pearl Harbor” — though this was no unprovoked attack. For these are — or were — the same bombers which carry the airborne proponent of Russia’s strategic nuclear threat,