As the Russia-Ukraine war continues to gather steam, in Sunday, Ukraine launched a large-scale drone attack on Russian air bases, thousands of miles behind the front lines. This is one of the latest in a long line of similar missions by Ukraine’s forces against its neighbor Russia.
The operation started more than a year and a half. The drones wert smuggled into Russian territory and hidden in wooden mobile houses atop trucks, according to reports from Ukraine’s domestic intelligence agency.
The drone strikes caused an estimated $7 billion in damages. The strike hit 34% of Russia’s strategic cruise missile carriers at its main air bases, reports revealed. The daring assault with element of surprise shows Ukraine still has the ability to pressure Russia even as Moscow ramps up its own attacks and offensive operations.
More than 40 aircraft were reported to have been hit in the operation, according to security intelligence source. The aircrafts hit by the Ukrainian drone strike include TU-95 and Tu-22M3 strategic bombers, and one of Russia’s few remaining A-50 surveillance planes.
The Tu-22M3 is Russia’s long-range missile strike platform, capable of performing stand-off attacks, launching missiles from Russian airspace well behind the front lines to stay out of range of Ukrainian anti-aircraft fire.
Russia had 55 Tu-22M3 jets and 57 Tu-95s in its fleet at the beginning of the year, according to the “Military Balance 2025” from the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank.
Analysts contemplate what this recent drone strike means for Ukraine-Russia peace talks.
