Captured on June 2, a day after one of the most complex and effective operations launched by Ukraine in more than three years of war, the image shows several aircraft struck in at least two locations. The image, more grainy than conventional high-resolution photographs and in black and white, appears to show the debris of several aircraft located along the runway of the Belaya military air base or parked in protective revetments nearby.

Based on the debris visible, comparison to recent satellite images and released drone footage from Telegram posted to Twitter, I can see the destruction of several aircraft,” John Ford, a research associate at the California-based James Martin Centre for Nonproliferation Studies, was quoted by Reuters as saying. Ford said that SAR imagery provided to him showed what appeared to be the remnants of two destroyed Tu-22 Backfires – long-range, supersonic strategic bombers that have been used to launch missile strikes against Ukraine.

The SAR image, as well as drone footage of the strikes posted on social media, also indicated that four strategic Tu-95 heavy bombers had been destroyed or severely damaged, he added.

UKRAINIAN DRONE STRIKES IN RUSSIA

The Russian Defence Ministry said Ukraine had launched drone strikes targeting military airfields in Murmansk, Irkutsk, Ivanovo, Ryazan, and Amur regions. Air defences repelled the assaults in three regions, but not Murmansk and Irkutsk, it said, adding that in those places several aircraft caught fire.

On Tuesday, the Kremlin said that Russia had launched an official investigation into the weekend Ukrainian drone attacks. Top Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev also said, in an apparent response to the strikes on Russian strategic bomber bases, that Moscow would take revenge.

Ukraine’s domestic security agency, the SBU, claimed responsibility for the operation, called “Spider’s Web”, and said that in total 41 Russian warplanes were hit. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the attack, which struck targets up to 4,300 km (2,670 miles) from the frontlines of the war, “absolutely brilliant”.

The Ukrainian military initially added 12 aircraft to its running tally of Russia’s wartime military losses on Tuesday. According to Reuters, some experts said the operation would not be enough to stop Russia from launching missile attacks on Ukraine using strategic bombers, but it would be hard, if not impossible, to replace the damaged planes because some of them are no longer in production.

The attack was also likely to force Russia to reconfigure its air defences, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) research group.