Latest news with #Tu95
Reuters
12 hours ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Ukraine releases new footage of drone attack on Russian strategic bombers
KYIV, June 4 (Reuters) - Ukraine released new footage on Wednesday 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 Sunday's attack on the airfields using 117 drones hit 41 military aircraft. Reuters has not independently verified that number. Satellite imagery shows several bombers were destroyed and badly damaged at one base. 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 air bases in the footage, including Ivanovo airbase where the A-50s were stationed. Reuters could not independently verify what 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 Wednesday 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 Wednesday. However, influential Russian military bloggers have accused Russian authorities, especially the aerospace command, of negligence and complacency for allowing the nuclear-capable bombers to be targeted. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he had decorated a number of SBU officers for Sunday's operation.
Daily Mail
13 hours ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Extent of damage following Ukraine's attack on Russia
Dramatic new footage recorded by Ukrainian attack drones has laid bare the devastation they inflicted on Russian airbases during Operation Spiderweb. The covert mission - overseen in secret by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and hailed as one of Kyiv 's biggest wartime achievements - used hundreds of first-person view (FPV) drones to strike at the heart of Moscow's air force. The state-of-the-art weapons were smuggled into Russia in wooden containers on the back of lorries, with the deadly cargo disguised as modular homes and transported by unsuspecting Russian drivers. The vehicles were parked near strategic airbases before their roofs opened remotely, unleashing swarms of drones that targeted and destroyed bombers on the ground. The strikes took place on Sunday, with footage released today showing flames engulfing aircraft at four military airfields - Olenya in the Arctic region of Murmansk; Dyagilevo in western Russia; Ivanovo, northeast of Moscow ; and Podmoskovye in Moscow. Sources inside Ukraine's SBU security service claimed the operation crippled 34 percent of Russia's long-range strategic bombers, including the nuclear-capable Tu-95s and Tu-22s, often used to launch cruise missiles into Ukraine. Other aircraft which were hit included the nuclear-capable Tu-160 bomber, the An-12 transport plane and the Il-78 tanker, according to the SBU. The footage was released as new satellite images of Belaya airbase have shown severe damage to at least three Tu-95s, according to analysts. In total Ukraine says 41 aircraft were damaged or destroyed with damage valued at around £1.5 billion. A share of the successfully targeted aircraft were destroyed completely while others will take a long time to repair, the SBU said. Some of the drones carried the mission out using AI, according to reports, and flew via a route that was programmed into them before the attack was launched. The new footage was shown as Putin held a video conference with senior officials. It was the first time he had been seen publicly since the humiliating Sunday strikes. His security officials reported that two train crashes on the same day were caused by Ukrainian saboteurs blowing up rail bridges. At least some of the trucks belonged to former DJ Artem Timofeev, suspected by Russian law enforcement of being a Ukrainian agent. A huge manhunt has been launched for his and his wife Ekaterina 'Katya' Timofeeva, 34, who is suspected to have aided him. The pair have gone missing, say reports. Putin-backing Readovka media outlet reported: 'Artem is now wanted in connection with a terrorist attack in Irkutsk region. 'Four lorries were registered in his name, and one of them was the source of the drones that launched [in an attack on a Putin airbase].' His wife 'has not been online for two weeks, and she has scrubbed all her active social media accounts.' Relatives of the couple declined to comment, according to Readovka. A flat in Chelyabinsk has been linked to Timofeev where he was reportedly seen a week ago. Reports are divided as to whether he was born in Zhytomyr Ukraine, or occupied Donetsk region. Both he and his wife were reportedly supporters in Kyiv of the Ukrainian revolution in 2014, which toppled pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych. Later they moved to Russia, where she also worked as a stylist and tattoo artist. He set up a haulage sole proprietorship in December 2024, and ran several lorries. In his marriage certificate, Timofeev's patronymic - middle name - is listed as Igorevich, while in a Russian wanted notice he is referred to as Valeryevich. It is unclear if he had sought to alter his name. He is specifically wanted over the strike against a Russian airbase in Irkutsk region. In 2014–2015, he lived in Kyiv, and mingled with local musicians, frequently attending parties. Reports say he co-owned a local clothing brand, posting photos from the Euromaidan protests, and mocking ex-president Yanukovych. Ukraine's SBU secret service said its main agents in the audacious strikes on the air bases had already left Russia. Zelensky today urged Kyiv's military backers to ramp up support in a bid to pressure Russia towards peace. 'We must not allow Russia to blur reality or mislead the world. Moscow must be forced into diplomacy,' Zelensky said in a video address to defense ministers meeting in Brussels. And after Sunday's devastating blow to Moscow, German defense minister Boris Pistorius said today that military success by Russia in its war in Ukraine was neither imminent nor to be expected.
Daily Mail
14 hours ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
New footage shows incredible devastation caused by Ukraine's drones as they obliterated Putin's nuclear bombers - as satellite images show trail of burned out jets worth billions of dollars
Dramatic new footage recorded by explosive-laden Ukrainian attack drones has laid bare the devastation they inflicted on Russian airbases during Operation Spiderweb. The covert mission - overseen in secret by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and hailed as one of Kyiv 's biggest wartime achievements - used hundreds of first-person view (FPV) drones to strike at the heart of Moscow's air force. The state-of-the-art weapons were smuggled into Russia in wooden containers on the back of lorries, with the deadly cargo disguised as modular homes and transported by unsuspecting Russian drivers. The vehicles were parked near strategic airbases before their roofs opened remotely, unleashing swarms of drones that targeted and destroyed bombers on the ground. The devastating strikes took place on Sunday, with footage released today showing flames engulfing aircraft at four military airfields - Olenya in the Arctic region of Murmansk; Dyagilevo in western Russia; Ivanovo, northeast of Moscow; and Podmoskovye in Moscow. Sources inside Ukraine's SBU security service claimed the operation crippled 34 per cent of Russia's long-range strategic bombers, including the nuclear-capable Tu-95s and Tu-22s, often used to launch cruise missiles into Ukraine. Other aircraft which were hit included the nuclear-capable Tu-160 bomber, the An-12 transport plane and the Il-78 tanker, according to the SBU. The footage was released as new satellite images of Belaya airbase have shown severe damage to at least three Tu-95s, according to analysts. In total Ukraine says 41 aircraft were damaged or destroyed with damage valued at around £1.5 billion. The new footage was shown as Putin held a video conference with senior officials. It was the first time he had been seen publicly since the humiliating Sunday strikes. His security officials reported that two train crashes on the same day were caused by Ukrainian saboteurs blowing up rail bridges. At least some of the trucks belonged to former DJ Artem Timofeev, suspected by Russian law enforcement off being a Ukrainian agent. A huge manhunt has been launched for his and his wife Ekaterina 'Katya' Timofeeva, 34, who is suspected to have aided him. The pair have gone missing, say reports. Putin-backing Readovka media outlet reported: 'Artem is now wanted in connection with a terrorist attack in Irkutsk region. 'Four lorries were registered in his name, and one of them was the source of the drones that launched [in an attack on a Putin airbase].' His wife 'has not been online for two weeks, and she has scrubbed all her active social media accounts.' Relatives of the couple declined to comment, according to Readovka. A flat in Chelyabinsk has been linked to Timofeev where he was reportedly seen a week ago. Reports are divided as to whether he was born in Zhytomyr Ukraine, or occupied Donetsk region. Both he and his wife were reportedly supporters in Kyiv of the Ukrainian revolution in 2014, which toppled pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych. Later they moved to Russia, where she also worked as a stylist and tattoo artist. He set up a haulage sole proprietorship in December 2024, and ran several lorries. In his marriage certificate, Timofeev's patronymic - middle name - is listed as Igorevich, while in a Russian wanted notice he is referred to as Valeryevich. It is unclear if he had sought to alter his name. He is specifically wanted over the strike against a Russian airbase in Irkutsk region. In 2014–2015, he lived in Kyiv, and mingled with local musicians, frequently attending parties. Reports say he co-owned a local clothing brand, posting photos from the Euromaidan protests, and mocking ex-president Yanukovych. Ukraine's SBU secret service said its main agents in the audacious strikes on the air bases had already left Russia. Zelensky today urged Kyiv's military backers Wednesday to ramp up support in a bid to pressure Russia towards peace. 'We must not allow Russia to blur reality or mislead the world. Moscow must be forced into diplomacy,' Zelensky said in a video address to defence ministers meeting in Brussels. German defence minister Boris Pistorius said on Wednesday that military success by Russia in its war in Ukraine was neither imminent nor to be expected.
The Independent
15 hours ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Satellite photos show destroyed bombers at a Russian air base that Ukraine said it hit
Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press on Wednesday showed seven destroyed bombers on the tarmac at a Russian air base in eastern Siberia, one of the targets Ukraine said it struck with drones in one of the most daring covert operations of the 3-year war. The photos provided by Planet Labs PBC showed aircraft wreckage and scorched areas at the Belaya Air Base, a major installation for Russia's long-range bomber force. In the images, at least three Tu-95 bombers and four Tu-22Ms appeared to be destroyed. The planes were parked on an apron beside a runway surrounded by grassland. Other aircraft at the base appeared unscathed. Ukraine claimed that 41 Russian warplanes, including strategic bombers and other types of combat aircraft, were destroyed or damaged in Sunday's operation, which officials said was planned over 18 months. The attack delivered a heavy blow to Russia's air force and its military prestige. The Russian Defense Ministry said the attack set several warplanes ablaze at air bases in the Irkutsk region and the Murmansk region in the north, but the fires were extinguished. It also said Ukraine also tried to strike two air bases in western Russia, as well as another one in the Amur region of Russia's Far East, but those attacks were repelled. Russian President Vladimir Putin hasn't commented on the issue. The Tu-95 is a is a four-engine turboprop plane that can fly intercontinental missions and was designed in the 1950s to rival the U.S. B-52 bomber. The Tupolev Tu-22M is a sweep-wing twin-engine supersonic bomber. Russia has used the heavy planes in the war to launch waves of cruise missile strikes across Ukraine. For decades, long-range bombers have been part of the Soviet and Russian nuclear triad that also includes land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles and atomic-powered submarines carrying ICBMs. The strategic bombers have flown regular patrols around the globe showcasing Moscow's nuclear might. ___
Russia Today
18 hours ago
- General
- Russia Today
Ukraine's strikes on Russian airfields risk escalation
The recent Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian airfields reportedly hosting nuclear-capable bombers sharply increase the risk of escalation, Keith Kellogg, US President Donald Trump's special envoy, has warned. On Sunday, Kiev launched a drone raid targeting airfields in five regions, according to the Defense Ministry in Moscow. Officials in Kiev said that the attack was aimed at Russia's strategic aviation. Ukrainian media reports claimed that the airfields house Russian Tu-95 and Tu-22M strategic bombers, as well as an A-50 early warning and control plane. Russian officials said that the 'terrorist attack' was repelled with no casualties but that several aircraft caught fire. In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, Kellogg suggested that the attack was upping the stakes in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. 'The risk levels are going way up,' he explained. 'When you attack an opponent's part of their national survival system, which is their nuclear triad… that means your risk level goes up because you don't know what the other side's going to do.' The envoy also noted that he was particularly concerned by reports – which were not confirmed by Moscow – that Ukraine also struck the Northern Fleet headquarters in Severomorsk, which would have meant that two of the three legs of Russia's nuclear triad were under attack. He added that when it comes to such kinds of attacks, 'it's not so much the damage you do on the triad itself… but it's the psychological impact you have.' Ukraine, according to the envoy, also wanted to show that it could 'raise the risk level to levels that are basically, to me, they've got to be unacceptable.' Earlier this week, the New York Times reported, citing sources, that Ukraine did not give advance notice to the US of the strikes, and that the two sides currently have no joint planning on operations inside Russian territory. NYT sources also believe that Moscow will mount 'a significant retaliation,' although specifics are yet unclear. Following the attacks, Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president who now serves as deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, warned that a response was 'inevitable.'
