Satellite images show that Russian bombers have destroyed at the air base that Ukraine said he had struck

The satellite photos analyzed by the Associated Press show seven bombers destroyed on the tarmac on Wednesday in a Russian air base in eastern Siberia, one of the Ukraine targets said drone in one of the most daring secret operations of war.

The photos provided by Planet Labs PBC show plane tests and burned areas at Belaya air base, a major installation for the long -range Bombardier of Russia. In the images, at least three Tu-95 bombers and four TU-22MS seem to be destroyed.

The planes were parked on an apron next to a track surrounded by meadows. Other aircraft at the base seem unscathed.

Ukraine said 41 Russian war planes, including strategic bombers and other types of combat aircraft, were destroyed or damaged during the Sunday operation, which, according to officials, had been planned for 18 months. The attack gave a blow Russia Air Force and its military prestige.

Until now, it has been impossible to confirm the full extent of the damage. Russia said that Ukraine estimates were exaggerated.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the attack has put several war records on fire in the air bases in the Irkutsk region and the Murmansk region in the North, but the fires were extinguished. He also said that Ukraine has also tried to strike two air bases in western Russia, as well as another in the Amur region in the Far East of Russia, but these attacks have been postponed.

Russian President Vladimir Putin did not comment on the issue.

The TU-95 is a four-engage turboprop aircraft that can control intercontinental missions and was designed in the 1950s to compete with the American bomber B-52.

The TU-22M tupolev is a supersonic bomber with two winged wing engines.

Russia used the heavy planes of total war, which began in February 2022, to launch waves of cruise missile strikes across Ukraine.

For decades, long-range bombers are part of the Soviet and Russian nuclear triad which also includes terrestrial intercontinental ballistic missiles and atomic propulsion submarines carrying ICBM. Strategic bombers have piloted regular patrols around the world by presenting Moscow’s nuclear power.

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Follow the coverage of war by the AP in Ukraine in https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine