Ukraine strikes Putin's prized spy planes
Ukraine has damaged at least two of Russia's rare A-50 surveillance aircraft in its audacious drone attack on Vladimir Putin's strategic bomber fleet, according to intelligence shared with The Telegraph.
Footage shared with this publication clearly showed one of the Ukrainian drones hitting the radar dome of a hulking Soviet-era spy plane sitting on the apron of an air base.
The aircraft was protected with what appeared to be sandbags aligned across its wings.
A second A-50, shielded by tyres carefully lined across its airframe, also appeared to be hit by a Ukrainian-piloted drone, again landing on its radar dome.
The fresh intelligence sheds new light on what has been likened to Russia's 'Pearl Harbour moment' – referring to the surprise Japanese attack that brought the US into the Second World War.
It is not clear whether the Russian A-50s were destroyed, but even damaging the aircraft would be considered a prized scalp by the Ukrainians.
Moscow was believed to only have seven operational versions of the spy planes, which are estimated to be worth £235 million each, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
The A-50s are considered highly important for organising Russia's air defences and co-ordinating fighter jets and bomber aircraft attacking Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials had claimed to have struck at least one of the spy planes before, but the footage shared with The Telegraph remains the only proof of their apparent success.
The three-minute-long video clip showed an array of Tupolev bombers engulfed in flames after direct hits from Ukrainian drones, which were launched from modified shipping containers parked near four air bases deep inside Russia.
Open source satellite images taken by Maxar Technologies on May 2, almost a month before the Ukrainian attack, appeared to show two A-50s parked alongside each other at Ivanovo Severny air base, one of the bases targeted.
The two aircraft were spotted being shielded with debris lined up carefully across their wings, as in the drone footage shared with The Telegraph.
It was clear from the footage that it is the two same A-50s, as one of their radar hulls is tinged with a brownish colouring.
Many of the other Russian planes targeted in the Ukrainian strikes appeared to also be shrouded beneath similar makeshift defences.
Operation Spider's Web, as Ukraine dubbed it, was co-ordinated by the country's SBU security service.
Officials said around 40 Russian aircraft were destroyed or damaged in the operation, which took 18 months to plan for and execute.
Western intelligence officials have claimed that a lower number, of Russian aircraft, around 11, were likely destroyed or damaged in the strikes. Although sources said Western agencies continue to assess new data as they receive it.
The surprise attack was celebrated by European capitals as a demonstration of Ukrainian ingenuity.
But they later said it did little to change the picture on the battlefield, where Russia continues to make grinding gains through eastern Ukraine at high cost.
'This does not change the battlefield equation,' one official said.
'And the hard reality is that in the Donbas, over the last couple of months, the Russians are making progress square kilometre by square kilometre. At a high cost, but a minimum of 200 square kilometres every month.'
The Ukrainian drone raid will, however, likely slow down Russian cruise missile attacks on its cities, by putting at least a dozen of its long-range bomber fleet out of operation.
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