 |
| Images posted online show a Tu-22 on fire at Soltsy-2 airbase |
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia
A flagship Russian long-range
bomber has been destroyed in a Ukrainian drone strike, according to reports.
Images posted on social media
and analysed by our reporter show a Tupolev Tu-22 on fire at Soltsy-2 airbase,
south of St Petersburg.
Moscow said that a drone was
hit by small-arms fire but managed to "damage" a plane. Ukraine has
not commented.
The Tu-22 can travel at twice
the speed of sound and has been used extensively by Russia to attack cities in
Ukraine.
The Russian defence ministry
said in a statement that an attack by a "copter-type UAV" took place
at around 10:00 Moscow time (08:00 BST) on Saturday.
It stated the location as
"a military airfield in the Novgorod region", where Soltsy-2 is
situated.
"The UAV was detected by
the airfield's observation outpost and was hit with small-arms fire," the
ministry said.
"One airplane was
damaged; there were no casualties as a result of the terrorist act."
The statement also said a fire
which broke out in the airfield parking lot was quickly extinguished.
However, images posted on the
social media platform Telegram showed a large fire engulfing a jet with the
distinctive nose cone of the Tu-22. BBC Verify analysed the images and believes
them to be credible.
While the destruction of a
single aircraft will have little effect on the potency of Moscow's current
60-strong fleet, the operation highlights Kyiv's growing ability to strike
targets deep inside Russian territory.
Kyiv has over recent months
launched dozens of fixed-wing unmanned aircraft to attack Moscow, a journey of
several hundred miles. Soltsy-2 is around 400 miles (650km) from the Ukraine
border.
However, the Russian MoD's
description of the drone as a "copter-type UAV" suggests a cheap,
commercially available device launched at short range.
The Tu-22 is a Cold War-era,
swing-wing supersonic bomber, codenamed "Backfire" by Nato, which has
been used extensively in attacks on Ukrainian cities.
Modern versions such as the
Tu-22M3 can reach speeds of Mach 2 (2,300km/h or 1,430mp/h) and can carry up to
24,000kg of weapons, including "dumb bombs" and homing missiles.
They have been used in
conflicts in Syria, Chechnya, and Georgia and most recently in Ukraine.
According to prosecutors in
Kyiv, 30 people were killed when a Tu-22-launched missile hit a block of flats in Dnipro in
January.
They said Russia's 52nd Guards
Bomber Aviation Regiment carried out the attack. The regiment is based at
Soltsy-2.
BBC Verify confirmed the
location of the Ukrainian drone attack on Soltsy-2 by comparing visual clues -
such as the appearance of aircraft and bays - to historical satellite images of
the airbase.
The weather conditions at the
time - wet and overcast - also matched the weather in the images, as well as
other witness photos of the incident.
The remnants of the aircraft
visible in the footage are consistent with that of a Tu-22M3.
Historical satellite imagery
analysed by BBC Verify shows that aircraft of this kind were stationed at the
base.
On Monday, a spokesperson for
Ukraine's defence intelligence service said another military aircraft had been
damaged in a drone attack in Russia's Kaluga region.
Russian media also reported
the attack, but denied there had been any damage.
No comments:
Post a Comment