Ukraine has apparently destroyed a flagship Russian long-range bomber in a drone attack deep inside the country. Russia has downplayed the incident but images on Telegram, verified by the BBC, indicate Ukrainian success.
Images posted online show a critically damaged Tupolev Tu-22M3 engulfed in flames at Soltsy-2 airbase, south of Saint-Petersburg. The long-range bombers can reach speeds of twice the speed of sound and they have been extensively used by Russia to launch attacks on cities within Ukraine.
Ukraine has recently been highly successful in using drones to launch attacks within Russia. The Soltsy-2 airbase is around 900km from Ukraine’s border.
The Russian defence ministry said a “copter-type UAV” executed an attack on August 19 at “a military airfield in the Novgorod region”.
“The UAV was detected by the airfield’s observation outpost and was hit with small-arms fire,” the ministry claimed. “One airplane was damaged; there were no casualties as a result of the terrorist act.”
Social media quickly painted another picture, with Russian groups sharing photos of the recognisable nose of a Tu-22 with the rest of the destroyed plane engulfed in flames.
BBC Verify authenticated the site of the Ukrainian drone strike on Soltsy-2 by cross-referencing visual indicators, such as aircraft features and hangar structures, with archive satellite pictures of the airbase.
The weather conditions at the time also matched the weather in the images, in addition to other witness photos of the incident.
Old satellite images also show that the base was used for such aircraft.
The Tu-22 was originally brought into service during the Cold War period and prior to the weekend attack, the Russian fleet consisted of 60 such aircraft.
The strike has not been acknowledged by Ukraine as the country seldom provides comments regarding assaults on Russian territory.
In January, Kyiv authorities said a Tu-22 supersonic bomber launched a missile that struck an apartment complex in Dnipro, resulting in the loss of 30 lives.
There has been an increase in Ukrainian drone air strikes within Russian borders over the past few weeks.
Also on August 19, the Russian defence ministry reported that its air defence units had successfully intercepted a missile launched from Ukraine over the Crimean Peninsula.
Ukraine has also been able to hit Moscow on several occasions. On the morning of August 22, the defence ministry said it downed two drones over the capital city region, while Moscow Airport was forced to temporarily close.
On social media, videos were shared of an apparent strike causing a major explosion.
Cars honking like crazy in Moscow following the suspected Ukrainian UAV attack. Probably not easy to sleep. pic.twitter.com/LnfRbyAlfB
— Faytuks News Δ (@Faytuks) August 22, 2023
Moped drones over Moscow. It’s getting loud. Though, I do not hear or see any anti aircraft fire in these clips.
Source: https://t.co/cXLETnrwYh#Russia #Moscow pic.twitter.com/t5Z86Eh2HW
— (((Tendar))) (@Tendar) August 22, 2023
