Ukraine says it hit four fields. Russia says it has shot down dozens of Ukrainian drones.
Yrjö Kokkonen,
Sari Taussi
Ukraine says that on the night between Thursday and Friday, it carried out perhaps the biggest drone attack of the war on Russian airports. Sources from the Ukrainian intelligence service and the armed forces tell the Ukrainian media that the attacks would have been carried out on four fields at the same time.
War the next The Institute for the Study of War the targets would have been the Morozov air base in the Rostov region, the Kursk city airport, the Engels base in the Saratov region, and the Yeisk base on the southern shore of the Sea of Azov.
ISW says it does not yet have visual confirmation of Ukraine’s claims. However, there are videos of possible attacks on social media.
Russia also talks about drone strikes. It says it shot down 44 Ukrainian drones last night in the Rostov region. According to Ukraine, more than 50 planes were shot down.
Russia may have lost several Tupolev bombers
Noteworthy is Ukraine’s claim that it damaged three Tu-95 bombers at the Engels base. The Tu-95 is an old strategic bomber, considered to be the equivalent of the legendary US B-52. Russia has used a machine known by the code name Bear to fire cruise missiles.
According to ISW, Russia reportedly has about 60 Tu-95s, so if Ukraine’s claim is true, Russia lost five percent of its Tu-95s.
In addition, Ukraine says it damaged two Su-25 attack planes in Jeisk. Ukraine also says it destroyed six unidentified planes and damaged eight at the Morozov base.
– This is an important special operation, and it significantly reduces Russia’s combat capability, said an anonymous source of the AFP news agency. According to the source, the perpetrator of the attack was the Ukrainian security service SBU.
Sources: AFP