Two Tu-22M3 were damaged and their repair will take months, says Andrii Yusov, spokesperson with the Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR) to Radio Svoboda.
The explosion happened over the planes, Andrii Yusov says to Radio Svoboda. He details the two supersonic bombers to be No. 33 and No. 31. “No. 33 has holes in the upper part of the fuselage. And No. 31 also has some damage,” Yusov says.
The drone attack on the remote airfield of Olenya on the Kola Peninsula became known on July 27, but according to the Ukrainian military intelligence the attack happened on July 25 at approximately 3:47 pm. Studies made by the Barents Observer of Sentinel satellite images show that several of the aircraft, including Tu-22M3, parked at two of the aprons on July 25 are not there on the 27. Planes could be relocated, are out on mission as the satellite passed over, or taken to hangars. Sentinel’s images have too low resolution to make any conclusions on what impact the drone attack might have had. […]
Andrii Yusov also mentioned that the air alarm did not go off at the airfield.
There are no information available on what kind of drone hit the Olenya airfield. An expert talking to the Barents Observer says it is “unlikely that the drone flew all north from Ukraine.”
The strategic bombers’ airfield south of Murmansk is 1,800 kilometers from Ukraine’s border with Russia. Small fixed-wing drones, quadcopter or octocopter could easily be transported north to the Kola Peninsula in the trunk of a private car or in a small van.
Russia’s air defense systems are not designed to take down small drones carrying explosives. Läs artikel