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Russia’s capabilities for missile strikes against Ukraine ‘have degraded’ after Vladimir Putin was forced to relocate bomber planes away from the war zone.
- Russia on trial for having suffered a degradation of long-range bombing capabilities
- Defense Ministry confirms key Engels airbase was attacked twice last month
- Russia revealed that it moved its plane further east in the wake of the drone strikes
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Russia is believed to have suffered a degradation of its long-range bombing capabilities following attacks on a key airbase.
In the latest Ministry of Defense (MoD) intelligence update, it was confirmed that the Engels airbase, which lies deep in Russian territory and some 375 miles from the Ukrainian border, was attacked twice last month.
The Ukrainian government has since revealed that Russia has relocated its long-range aircraft to the far east, in the latest blow to Vladimir Putin’s attempted invasion.
Both Tu-95MS BEAR heavy bombers and Tu-22M3 BACKFIRE medium bombers have been turned away from Ukraine as part of a likely “general dispersal” of Russia’s long-range aviation in the wake of the strikes, according to the update from the Ministry of Defence.
He added that Russia will still be able to fire air-launched cruise missiles into Ukraine because the weapons have a range of 5,000 km (3,100 miles), on top of the flight range of bombers.
But the Defense Ministry said Russia’s dispersal of its planes to different locations “will add additional maintenance stress and further deplete the limited flight hours available on these aging aircraft.”
Russia is said to have redeployed Tu-95MS BEAR heavy bombers to the far east in the wake of recent attacks on a key airbase.
Tu-22M3 BACKFIRE medium bombers (pictured left) are also said to have moved further into Russia’s territory.
The Engels airbase, which lies deep in Russian territory and some 375 miles from the Ukrainian border, was confirmed to have been attacked twice in the past month.
The Defense Ministry said Russia’s dispersal of its planes to different locations “will add additional maintenance stress and further deplete the limited flight hours available.”
The Engels airbase is located near Saratov, which is 450 miles southeast of Moscow and hundreds of miles from the front lines in Ukraine.
It is one of two bases that house Russia’s airborne nuclear forces.
The Engels attacks occurred on December 5 and 26, the Boxing Day attack being the same day that The Russian army was celebrating the 107th anniversary of the creation of its air defense units.
Russia has repeatedly reported shooting down drones near Engels and admitted that the two strikes killed at least six servicemen.
But Russia has insisted there was only light damage to two planes.
Ukraine does not publicly take responsibility for the attacks inside Russia, but calls them ‘karma’ from the Russian invasion.