Ukrainian drone destroys Russian supersonic bomber

maporita@unilem.org to World News@lemmy.world – 399 points – Ukrainian drone destroys Russian supersonic bomber
bbc.co.uk

A Ukrainian drone strike has destroyed a Russian TU-22 long range bomber at an air base south of St Petersburg

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What percentage of these attacks deep into Russia are being launched from Ukraine and what percentage are being launched from Russia? Of the latter (assuming non-zero), what percentage are being launched by Ukranian forces operating in Russia and what percentage are being launched by dissident Russians themselves?

Considering the first pictures of the plane burning were on Ukrainian social media, and "someone" put up a Ukrainian flag right outside the airport, I'm guessing these aren't being launched from Ukraine.

As the other poster said, this attack likely came from inside the house 😱

They've also developed and used long-range drones similar to what the terrorists in Tehran sold to the terrorists in the Kremlin. Basically flying mopeds of death.

Seems Ukraine is giving the Kremlin the wonderful opportunity to pull air defense resources back into Russia or face extremely expensive and embarrassing attacks.

These airfields have air defense systems already. They're just failing to destroy these drones, because the Ukrainian operatives launching them are smarter, and the Russian soldiers are lax.

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This is the best summary I could come up with:

Images posted on social media and analysed by BBC Verify show a Tupolev Tu-22 on fire at Soltsy-2 airbase, south of St Petersburg.

However, images posted on the social media platform Telegram showed a large fire engulfing a jet with the distinctive nose cone of the Tu-22.

While the destruction of a single aircraft will have little effect on the potency of Moscow's current 60-strong fleet, the operation highlights Kyiv's growing ability to strike targets deep inside Russian territory.

Kyiv has over recent months launched dozens of fixed-wing unmanned aircraft to attack Moscow, a journey of several hundred miles.

However, the Russian MoD's description of the drone as a "copter-type UAV" suggests a cheap, commercially available device launched at short range.

BBC Verify confirmed the location of the Ukrainian drone attack on Soltsy-2 by comparing visual clues - such as the appearance of aircraft and bays - to historical satellite images of the airbase.

The original article contains 493 words, the summary contains 154 words. Saved 69%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

I have never seen a post more needy of the NSFW tag in my life.

I am now trapped at my desk, potentially for hours, I may have to call an ambulance, priapism is a serious medical condition!

> Moscow said that a drone was hit by small-arms fire but managed to "damage" a plane. Ukraine has not commented.

The plane is just pining for the fjords.

Although I'm a bit late, it is worth mentioning, that the Tu-22M3 is not just a variant of the Tu-22. The Tu-22 was a completely different aircraft, and the Tu-22M retained the name only for political reasons. The Tu-22M3, though, is actually a development of the Tu-22M, most notably with different air intakes.