British military intelligence said a weekend drone strike deep inside Russian territory, which Moscow blamed on Ukraine, was very likely to have resulted in the downing of a Russian TU-22M3 long-range supersonic bomber.

Kiev, which announced an attack on a Russian airbase yesterday, has said Russia is using TU-22M3s to bomb targets inside Ukraine. Western military experts believe that Moscow has 60 such bombers.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Sunday that an airbase in the Novgorod region, where such aircraft are stationed, was attacked by a Ukrainian drone and one aircraft was damaged, without further details.

If the information of the British services about the scale of the disaster is confirmed, the fact will emerge that the advanced aircraft that Moscow relies on for its attack on Ukraine are vulnerable to Ukrainian drone attacks.

So far, there has been no comment from Ukraine, which has rarely publicly claimed responsibility for attacks inside Russia or on territory controlled by Moscow. However, Kiev has declared that it will do everything to damage Russia’s military capabilities.

The information has not been commented on by Moscow either.

Successful attack

According to the British military intelligence services, “a Tu-22M3 BACKFIRE medium bomber of the Russian Long-Range Air Force is very likely to have been destroyed at the Soltsy-2 airbase in Novgorod, located 650 kilometers from the border with Ukraine.”

“This is at least the third successful attack against a Russian Long-Range Air Force base, again raising questions about Russia’s ability to protect strategic targets deep inside the country,” according to British agencies.

The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Saturday that the attack was carried out by a Ukrainian drone helicopter which was shot down and there were no casualties.

According to the British agencies, if a drone helicopter was indeed used in this attack, the fact reinforces the idea that some drone attacks are launched from inside Russia, since such drones are unlikely to have the necessary range to reach the air base. if they start from places outside Russian territory.

Russia has used TU-22M3 supersonic bombers to bomb Ukraine, according to British intelligence which has criticized the “highly inaccurate” heavy anti-ship missiles launched by the bombers.

Russia insists it uses high-precision missiles to hit targets and that it does not target civilians or non-military targets. The Russian claim is rejected by Kiev.