Russian warplanes hit by Ukrainian drones on a Russian basis on June 1, were damaged but not destroyed and will be restored, the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister said. Sergei Ryabkov.

The United States estimates that up to 20 warplanes were hit and about 10 were destroyed, two US officials in Reuters said, a number that is about half of the Ukrainian president estimated Volodimir Zelenski.

But Ryabkov, who oversees the diplomacy of the equipment control, told the state -run news agency TASS that: “The equipment in question, as also said representatives of the Ministry of Defense, was not destroyed but was damaged. It will be restored. “

It was not immediately clear how quickly Russia could repair or replace the damaged aircraft – if it ever did – given the complexity of technology, the age of some of the Soviet era aircraft and western sanctions that limit Russian imports.

Commercial satellite images taken after the Ukrainian unmanned aircraft attack, according to Reuters experts, damaged Russian strategic TU-95 bombers and large-scale TU-22 Backfire bombers, which Russia has used to use.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told US President Donald Trump in a telephone conversation on Wednesday that Moscow should respond to the attacks, Trump said.

Russia It has an estimated fleet of 67 strategies of bombers, Including 52 TU-95, known as Bear-H from NATO, and 15 TU-160, known as Blackjacks, of which about 58 are believed to have been developed, according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

Additional, It has 289 non -strategic fighters and bombersincluding TU-22, Su-24, Su-34 and MIG-31, according to Bulletin. Russia has not given details about which aircraft suffered damage, but said Ukraine had targeted five air bases.