Ukraine says one of Vladimir Putin’s £75million Tu-95MS “Bear” nuclear-capable bombers was left badly damaged in an overnight attack on a Russian airbase.
Satellite imagery from Engels-2 airbase in Russia’s central Saratov region appears to show an aircraft with severe damage to its right wing after a strike attributed by Kyiv to Ukraine’s SBU security service.
The reported hit marks the second time in six weeks that Ukraine has struck a Tu-95MS at Engels-2, dealing another significant setback to the Kremlin.
The long-range bombers are routinely used by Russia to launch conventional missile attacks on Ukraine, while also forming part of Moscow’s nuclear strike capability.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: “In Engels, Russia, the Alpha unit of the SBU struck a Tu-95MS missile carrier.”
“It is these aircraft that carry out attacks on Ukraine. Thank you for your accuracy to all our soldiers — this is all a response to their attacks. The Russians must feel what their war is like,” he added.
The latest wave of strikes also ignited a major oil refinery in Russia’s Yaroslavl region.
Several other Tu-95MS aircraft were damaged during last year’s Operation Spiderweb, when drones were launched from trucks positioned near airfields inside Russia.
Satellite images show a badly damaged right wing
It is the second Tu-95MS hit at Engels-2 in six weeks by the Ukrainians and a major blow for Russian leader Vladimir Putin
Other Tu-95MS planes were damaged in last year’s Operation Spiderweb
However, because the aircraft are no longer manufactured, they are difficult to repair.
Soviet-era Tu-95s first flew some 70 years ago, but remain a mainstay of the Russian nuclear force. They are the world’s only propeller-powered strategic bombers.
Meanwhile, Russia launched waves of drones at Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and surrounding region on Friday, damaging warehouses and homes in a second consecutive day of strikes that Ukrainian officials said were an attempt to derail daily life for millions of residents.
At least one person was killed outside Kyiv, said governor Tymur Tkachenko, adding that 14 warehouse premises, 16 homes and three blocks of apartment buildings had been damaged.
There were frequent air raid warnings in the capital on Friday morning, a day after a missile and drone attack lasting several hours that targeted major retailers and consumer logistics in Kyiv and elsewhere in Ukraine.
Those strikes continued on Friday, destroying sorting centres belonging to the Ukrainian courier firm Nova Poshta near Kyiv and in the northern city of Sumy, the company said.
In the south-eastern city of Zaporizhzhia, a Russian drone tore into the home-improvement store Epicenter, wounding at least four people, governor Ivan Fedorov said on Friday.
Ukraine’s state emergency service said Russia had attacked the Kyiv region 38 times during the past 24 hours, and warned residents not to approach areas where firefighters were still tackling blazes.
Friday’s attacks appeared aimed at prolonging the snarl-up sparked by strikes a day earlier, which delayed trains across several regions and left passengers stranded for long periods.
Cars burn as firefighters try to put out a fire following a Russian drone attack in Kyiv on Friday
A woman sits by the body of a dead resident at the site of a Russian drone strike in Kyiv
At least one person was killed outside Kyiv, said governor Tymur Tkachenko
Parts of a shot-down kamikaze drone at the site of a Russian strike
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Is this a justified military strike or a dangerous escalation?
Andriy Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine’s Centre for Countering Disinformation, a branch of the National Security Council, warned of the danger of so-called unmanned aerial vehicles – or drones – adding: ‘The enemy is launching small numbers of jet-powered UAVs in waves with the aim of paralysing Kyiv.
‘The aim – to wear down the air defences and the population.’
Ukraine’s state railway said on Friday that delays were gradually decreasing, but that the effects of frequent strikes and air-raid alerts would be felt for at least another day.
Kyiv spent nearly 15 hours under air-raid alerts on Thursday, according to Ukraine’s foreign ministry.
Russian forces also attacked a shopping centre in the city of Kharkiv in north-eastern Ukraine, said mayor Ihor Terekhov – the second such attack there in two days.
In recent weeks, Russia and Ukraine have stepped up strikes on consumer logistics and online retailers to dent each other’s economies and weaken their respective war efforts.
Also on Friday, a Russian drone attack destroyed a warehouse in Kyiv region for a major book retailer that shipped thousands of titles per day, the company said.
