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NATO Confirms Ukraine Has Disabled 30% Of Russian Strategic Aircraft

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NATO Confirms Ukraine Has Disabled 30% Of Russian Strategic Aircraft

A list of destroyed and damaged aircraft was announced.

Ukraine's special services as a result of the operation codenamed "Spider's Web" disabled more than 40 units of Russian strategic aviation, of which 10 to 13 were completely destroyed. This was reported by DW citing a statement by a senior NATO official. According to him, among the damaged and destroyed vehicles are 15 Tu-95 strategic bombers, 12 Tu-22M3s, as well as at least one A-50 long-range radar detection aircraft - the Russian army has only about five such aircraft at its disposal.

According to the Stockholm Institute for Peace Research (SIPRI), Russia possessed 130 strategic aircraft as of early 2023: 60 Tu-22M3 (range up to 6,500 kilometers), 15 Tu-160 and 55 Tu-95 (both up to 10,000 kilometers). Operation Spider's Web thus took out more than 30 percent of the strategic cruise missile carriers, which NATO called the "workhorses" of Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilian targets.

"This is a strike against facilities actively engaged in the war against civilians. Since the start of the invasion, these very aircraft have fired more than 3,000 cruise missiles striking Ukrainian infrastructure and residential areas," an alliance spokesman said at a June 4 briefing in Brussels.

The Wall Street Journal and Financial Times, citing Ukrainian intelligence sources, wrote that preparations for Operation Web have lasted more than a year and a half. First, the SBU smuggled small quadrocopters into Russian territory. Later, also through illegal channels, special wooden containers were delivered, in which the drones were placed.

Nearly before the attack, these containers were loaded into trucks and driven closer to Russian airfields. When the moment came to strike, the lids of the containers were opened remotely, and the drones took to the air to attack military facilities.

Operation "Spider's Web," conducted on June 1, was one of the largest Ukrainian military actions on Russian territory since the beginning of the full-scale war. Airbases in four regions of Russia - Murmansk, Irkutsk, Ryazan and Ivanovo regions - were hit.

The Ukrainian side earlier said that 41 aircraft of the Russian Air and Space Forces were disabled as a result of the attack. This data was soon confirmed by a senior NATO official in comments to The Moscow Times. He also said that the North Atlantic alliance expects the Kremlin to retaliate.

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