While Ukraine released what it said were recordings of drones attacking these air bases, as well as two others in the Ivanovo and Ryazan regions, satellite imagery did not show any visible signs of damage at these sites.
Russia no longer manufactures these aircraft, said Thomas Withington, an electronic warfare and air defense expert at the Royal United Services Institute, a think tank in London.
“You can’t just go to the factory and get a new one. Once you lose one of these aircraft, broadly speaking you lose it forever,” said Withington. “That degrades the strategic and nuclear capabilities of the Russian air force.”
Whatever the total losses, few outside Russia contest that Ukraine’s operation was a remarkable feat of intelligence, planning and utilizing cheap, modern warfare tools.
According to the SBU, it stashed 117 small drones inside sheds on the backs of trucks, unleashing them near the perimeters of four Russian air bases. One of these air bases, Belaya, is 2,500 miles away from Ukraine’s borders.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed it as “a brilliant result” that took 18 months to plan and would “undoubtedly be in history books.”
Zelenskyy aide Pavlo Palisa told journalists in Washington on Wednesday that 41 Russian aircraft were hit, around half of which were “completely destroyed” and the rest no longer able to fly.
The SBU and Zelenskyy said 34% of Russia’s nuclear-capable strategic bombing force had been taken out of action — at a cost of $7 billion.
Palisa told reporters that two Beriev A-50s — rare and valuable early-warning radar planes, known as “awacs” — were “targeted.” The SBU’s video only appeared to show a drone landing on top of the radar dish of one of these aircraft, however, with no explosion.
When contacted by NBC News for more information on how it came to its figures, the SBU said that NATO confirmed its tally — despite the discrepancy in figures given by the alliance.
Russia has a far different version of events.
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