Russia lost 12 aircraft, Ukraine's military claims days after drone strike on Russian bombers

Russian forces had lost 12 aircraft, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said in its regular update on June 3, without providing additional details.

The report came two days after the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) launched a mass drone attack against Russian strategic aviation parked at four different air bases on June 1.

SBU chief Vasyl Maliuk said that 41 planes, including Tu-95 and Tu-22 M3 bombers and A-50 reconnaissance planes, were hit. The SBU later claimed the operation caused approximately $7 billion in damage and disabled one-third of Russia’s cruise missile bombers.

In its report, the General Staff did not specify the types of destroyed planes or whether more had been damaged.

Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council official Andrii Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation, previously said at least 13 Russian aircraft were destroyed in the attack, with more damaged.

“This was not just a devastating blow to enemy aviation, but a serious slap in the face of the power and terrorist essence of the Russian Federation,” Maliuk said in a statement on June 2.

Independent confirmation of the damage caused is so far limited to satellite images of Belaya air base, which appear to confirm the destruction of at least three Tu-95MS strategic bombers and one Tu-22M3 aircraft, with an additional Tu-95MS visibly damaged.

Another image shows two more likely destroyed Tu-22M3 bombers on the field.

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The Kyiv IndependentChris York