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Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press amusement 7 destroyed bombers connected the tarmac astatine a Russian aerial basal successful eastbound Siberia
ByJON GAMBRELL Associated Press
Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press connected Wednesday amusement 7 destroyed bombers connected the tarmac astatine a Russian aerial basal successful eastbound Siberia, 1 of the targets Ukraine said it struck with drones successful 1 of the astir daring covert operations of the war.
The photos provided by Planet Labs PBC amusement craft wreckage and scorched areas astatine the Belaya Air Base, a large installation for Russia’s long-range bomber force. In the images, astatine slightest 3 Tu-95 bombers and 4 Tu-22Ms look to beryllium destroyed.
The planes were parked connected an apron beside a runway surrounded by grassland. Other craft astatine the basal look unscathed.
Ukraine said that 41 Russian warplanes, including strategical bombers and different types of combat aircraft, were destroyed oregon damaged successful Sunday’s operation, which officials said was planned implicit 18 months. The onslaught delivered a dense blow to Russia’s aerial unit and its subject prestige.
It has truthful acold been intolerable to corroborate the afloat grade of the damage. Russia has claimed Ukraine’s estimates are exaggerated.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the onslaught acceptable respective warplanes ablaze astatine aerial bases successful the Irkutsk portion and the Murmansk portion successful the north, but the fires were extinguished. It besides said Ukraine besides tried to onslaught 2 aerial bases successful occidental Russia, arsenic good arsenic different 1 successful the Amur portion of Russia’s Far East, but those attacks were repelled.
Russian President Vladimir Putin hasn’t commented connected the issue.
The Tu-95 is simply a four-engine turboprop level that tin alert intercontinental missions and was designed successful the 1950s to rival the U.S. B-52 bomber.
The Tupolev Tu-22M is simply a sweep-wing twin-engine supersonic bomber.
Russia has utilized the dense planes successful the all-out war, which began successful February 2022, to motorboat waves of cruise rocket strikes crossed Ukraine.
For decades, long-range bombers person been portion of the Soviet and Russian atomic triad that besides includes land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles and atomic-powered submarines carrying ICBMs. The strategical bombers person flown regular patrols astir the globe showcasing Moscow’s atomic might.
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Follow AP’s sum of the warfare successful Ukraine astatine https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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