New footage shows how Ukraine has used repurposed Soviet-era reconnaissance drones to target key air bases deep in Russian territory, as Kyiv increases the pressure on Moscow's air force.
The clip appeared to be broadcast by Ukrainian outlet 1+1 and reposted on Telegram by Ukrainian news aggregator account Tryxa. In the footage, operators prepare a modified Soviet-era Tu-141 reconnaissance drone before launching it.
"This is how Ukraine attacks Russian airfields from its territory," the Telegram channel wrote, saying the video shows Ukraine's military intelligence agency (GUR) carrying out special operations in December 2022. Newsweek could not independently verify when the footage was filmed, nor that it showed December's strike.
The channel said the clip showed Ukrainian strikes on the Dyagilevo air base in Russia's Ryazan region, 120 miles southeast of Moscow, and an attack on the Engels-2 military base in the country's Saratov region. The bases house aircraft making up Russia's strategic bomber fleet, including the Tu-95, which Russia has deployed to attack Ukrainian targets.
Russia's Defense Ministry said at the time that its air defenses had intercepted low-flying Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles on the morning of December 5, 2022, and that debris from jet drones damaged two aircraft. The British Defense Ministry said the following day that two Tu-95s had been affected.
Three Russian engineers were killed, with four treated for injuries, Russia said. Kyiv did not immediately claim responsibility, save from a cryptic comment from Mykhailo Podolyak, a Ukrainian presidential adviser. However, a senior Kyiv official told The Washington Post that its forces had carried out the attacks. Another told The New York Times that the drones were launched from Ukrainian territory, and special forces were involved in at least one of the strikes.
"Ukrainian forces likely sought to disrupt Russian strikes against Ukrainian critical infrastructure and demonstrate Ukraine's ability to target Russian strategic assets," the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War think tank said in an analysis published shortly after the strikes.
Politico reported at the time that Ukraine had used modified Tu-141s in the twin attacks, citing two anonymous sources familiar with the operation. On December 8, the Kremlin-linked Tass news agency reported that the Tu-141s, also known as Strizh jet drones, had been upgraded by Ukrainian specialists. Tass added that Kyiv may have over "a hundred of such drones" at its disposal.
Ukraine has a few dozen Tu-141s left over from the Cold War era. These were revived by Kyiv when Moscow annexed Crimea and Russian-backed separatists railed against Ukraine in the Donbas in 2014, U.K.-based drone expert Steve Wright told Newsweek. He identified the Tu-141 as the drone appearing in the footage published on Telegram.
It is a blend of cruise missile and reconnaissance drone, and could certainly be repurposed to perform a strike role, Wright said.
However, the Tu-141 would need a number of modifications, Wright added. These would include an explosive warhead and changes to the drone's guidance system to achieve the sort of accuracy needed to destroy parked-up Russian bombers as is being claimed.
"That is certainly doable though," Wright said, using "the same 21st-century tech and Ukrainian ability to improvise being demonstrated by the drone strikes on Moscow."
The past 18 months of war between Russia and Ukraine has showcased Ukraine's creativity in adapting and producing new fleets of unmanned technology, notably wielded against Moscow inside its own territorial borders.
Ukraine has crafted previously-unseen drones to fly its technology over the border into Russia, and repeatedly all the way to Moscow. But there is an increasing sense that, although the Kremlin reports several drone attacks on Russian territory almost daily, Ukraine is zeroing in on Russia's strategic air bases with its experimental and cutting-edge drone technology.
Just weeks after the two-pronged attack on December 5, Ukrainian drones attacked the Engels base once again, and, days later, Russian authorities reported another drone strike attempt. The facility was home to more than 30 of Russia's heavy bombers, and is part of Russia's nuclear deterrent.
In mid-August, at least one Russian Tu-22M3 supersonic bomber aircraft was destroyed at Russia's Soltsy-2 airfield in the Novgorod region. Weeks later, Ukraine's military intelligence agency (GUR) told Ukrainian media that four Russian Il-76 military transport aircraft based at the western city of Pskov had been destroyed by drones. A further two aircraft were damaged, a spokesperson for Ukraine's GUR told Ukrainska Pravda.
Russia has also zoned in on Ukraine's military air bases in recent weeks, including Kyiv's Starokostiantyniv base in Ukraine's Khmelnytsky region.
