There is no corner in Russia to remain out of war. The Ukrainian Armed Forces have shown destruction in broad daylight of numerous Russian strategic bombers in a drone incursion against four aerodromes located throughout, including, for the first time, in Siberia. This massive attack has taken place on the eve of a meeting that the president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski, confirmed this Sunday the assistance of his delegation.
One of the objectives has been the base of Belaya, in the Siberian region of Irkutsk, located about 5,000 kilometers from the border that Moscow violated in 2022 by invading the neighboring country. At the same time, other unmanned devices have reached the Arctic Air Base of Olenya, in the province of Murmansk, about 1,800 kilometers north of Ukraine.
The operation has been performed allegedly by cargo trucks that transported dozens of drones to the vicinity of military facilities. Ukrainian army sources have assured El País that for the attack in Siberia, the drones were transported to the interior of Russia through commercial trucks.
“The SSU [Servicio de Seguridad de Ucrania] It is carrying out a large -scale special operation to destroy bombers in the rear of the Russian Federation, ”kyiv authorities have reported. The SSU, together with the intelligence services of the Ministry of Defense (GUR), are the two armed departments of Ukraine responsible for long -range bombings against Russian territory.
The Ukrainian media ensure that more than 40 Russian aircraft have been reached, including an A-50 recognition aircraft and TU-95 and TU-22 strategic bombers, capable of launching nuclear weapons. This figure has not been contrasted so far. The damage would mean about 2,000 million euros and the Russian nuclear capacity, according to Ukraine estimates.
The Russian Defense Ministry, hours after the offensive, has cited a fifth air base attacked in the Siberian region of Amur. According to his statement, only Murmansk and Irkurtsk airfields were achieved “and several aerial units burned.” The Ministry headed by Andréi Beloúsov states that “several participants of the attack” have been arrested.
Drones hidden in roofs
The Ukraine newspaper Pravda, The Ukrinform State Agency and Public Television Suspilne, citing anonymous sources of the SSU, have detailed that the operation was prepared for a year and a half. The drones were transported first within Russia. They hid under the roofs of wooden bungalows that were transported by these vehicles. When the time came, the roofs opened remotely and the drones were activated to carry out the attack, according to the Ukrainian media.
The authorities assure that Zelenski followed each phase of the plan and that those responsible for this action on Russian soil “have long left the country. Zelenski has affirmed that 114 drones were used in an attack that, according to their estimates, has destroyed a third of Russian strategic bombers.
The American medium Axios He has published that kyiv had previously informed the United States government of the operation. American intelligence information has been decisive during the more than three years of war so that the Ukrainian army hit Russian bases, to detect the movement of its bombers or the launch of its missiles against Ukrainian territory.
The news of the bombing against such strategic bases for the enemy has been received with joy by much of Ukraine society, sharing images of the attack on social networks and hundreds of messages celebrating it. One of the most repeated ideas between these messages is that what happened resembles the sabotage that in 2022, through a pump truck, partially destroyed the Kerch bridge, the infrastructure that connects Russia with Crimea, the peninsula illegally annexed by the Kremlin in 2014.
This Sunday’s cross for Ukrainian interests has been a new Russian attack against a Ukrainian military training center in the province of Dnipró and has caused at least 12 dead and 60 injured. The head of the Ukrainian Earth Army, Mijaílo Drapati, has presented his resignation in the last instance of what happened: “I tried to correct the errors, but if these tragedies have been repeated, it means that I did not do enough.”
The Russian Defense Ministry has not offered any estimation of damages. Russia has about six dozen Tu-95 bombers whose unit cost is secret, although it is estimated to amounts to tens of millions of euros. A small drone, on the contrary, is worth hundreds of a few thousand euros.
A channel close to the Russian air forces, FighterBomberhas pointed out the weak point of Russian defenses. “Since drones were used from the shortest distance, it was impossible to intercept them with [cañones] Pantsir o [misiles] S-300. So it is unlikely that the news is good. ”
The expansion of the war towards Russia is a reason for restlessness for the Kremlin. “The point from which drones has already been launched.
“The enemy drones have flown for the first time to Siberian territory,” he said in turn one of the main Russian progort channels of this same social network, WarGonzowith more than 900,000 followers.
Another governor, the head of the province of Murmansk, Andréi Chibis, has also asked the population and not share photos or videos of the air defense systems.
A medium linked to security forces, Mashhe has described the incursion as “mass”. According to some witnesses, the drones have fallen on military facilities after being sighted about two villages, Sredni and Novomaltinsk (in the Irkutsk region). The images spread by some neighbors showed intense black smoke columns in the area.
The Ukrainian army claims to have also bombarded Diaguilevo and Ivánovo military facilities, located in provinces near Moscow.
The governor of the Riazán region, Pável Malkov, has declared that the remains of a demolished drone fell on a residential building. According to preliminary data, its objective was the base of Diaguilevo, where the Russian Air Forces have strategic bombers TU-22.
Russian retaliation
A spokesman for the Ukrainian Army Operational Command for the south of the country told this newspaper that the military forces are prepared to receive “a Russian retaliation” from this afternoon “that affects all Ukraine.” Moscow carried out during the month of May several of the largest large -scale bombings in cities away from the front.
The Ukrainian attack occurs less than a day before a new encounter with Russia in Istanbul to try to negotiate a fire. “We are doing everything possible to protect our independence, our state and our people. I have defined the tasks for the near future and our position before the meeting in the Istanbul on Monday,” Volodimir Zelenski announced one day to celebrate the appointment.
Zelenski has reiterated the little confidence that Ukraine has that Russia is willing to accept a high fire. His staff assumes that Moscow has already launched preparations for a great summer offensive on the War Front.
kyiv demanded from Moscow, prior to the meeting in Türkiye, the delivery of the memorandum with its demands to sign a truce. This second round of conversations will be headed by the same representatives that the faces were seen on May 16: the writer Vladimir Medinski for the Russian part, and the Minister of Ukraine Defense, Rustem Uumerov, on behalf of kyiv.
The Russian delegation has already arrived in Istanbul, according to the media controlled by the Kremlin. Moscow’s response to the mass attack this Sunday will be known in the next few days. In addition to the possible impact of the bombing in the conversations on Monday, Putin has called “this week” to his security council.
