Ukraine releases new footage of drone attack on Russian strategic bombers
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A June 4 satellite image showing destroyed Tupolev Tu-95 aircraft at Russia's Belaya airbase.
PHOTO: AFP
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KYIV – Ukraine released new footage on June 4 of its major drone strike on four Russian military airbases, showing attack drones targeting numerous Russian strategic bombers and landing on two airborne early warning and control planes.
Ukrainian authorities say the June 1 attack on the airfields destroyed and badly damaged
New drone footage released by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) showed drones landing on the dome antennae of two A-50 military spy planes, of which there are only a handful in Russia’s fleet. There was no video showing the drones detonate.
Reuters was able to independently verify the locations of all four airbases in the footage, including Ivanovo airbase, where the A-50s were stationed. Reuters could not independently verify the date the footage was filmed.
The SBU said in a statement that the aircraft struck included the A-50, the Tu-95 strategic bomber, the Tu-22M3 supersonic jet bomber, the Tu-160 strategic bomber, as well as the An-12 and Il-78 military cargo planes.
Some of those military aircraft are part of Russia’s airborne nuclear deterrent, but can also be armed with cruise missiles that Russia has used to pound targets in Ukraine since its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
“A significant part of them is irretrievably destroyed, and some damaged aircraft will take many years to rebuild,” the SBU said.
The Russian Defence Ministry says Ukraine targeted airfields in the Murmansk, Irkutsk, Ivanovo, Ryazan and Amur regions and were repelled in the last three locations. Several aircraft caught fire in Murmansk and Irkutsk regions, it said.
Russian officials said on June 4 that military options were “on the table” for its response to Ukrainian attacks deep inside Russia and accused the West of being involved in them.
The attack has bolstered Ukrainian morale after months of unrelenting Russian battlefield pressure and numerous powerful missile and drone strikes by Moscow’s forces.
While condemning other Ukrainian attacks at the weekend on Russian targets, President Vladimir Putin made no mention of the attacks on the airbases in his comments to senior Russian officials on June 4.
However, influential Russian military bloggers have accused Russian authorities, especially the aerospace command, of negligence and complacency
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had decorated a number of SBU officers for the June 1 operation. REUTERS
