The drones struck a long-range missile carrier at the Olenya base, Ukrainian Pravda reported.
Ukrainian drones struck Russia’s Olenya airfield in the far north of the country on Saturday, hitting a strategic bomber, according to Ukrainian and other media reports.
The drones targeted a Tupolev Tu-22M3 supersonic long-range missile carrier at the “strategic aviation” base, Ukrainian Pravda reported, citing Ukraine’s intelligence unit.
Russia has not commented on the attack and Ukrainian military offered no further details.
Located in the Arctic on the Kola Peninsula, the Olenya air base is more than 1,900 kilometers north of Ukraine, but a mere 200 kilometers from the Finnish border.
How did they pull that off? Article says the location is 1,900 miles north of Ukraine. I imagine the longest range drones Ukraine has are those aircraft that look like converted Cessnas and I don’t think a Cessna is making it that far. Maybe launched by a recon group working inside Russia? No matter how they did it, amazing outcome and I really hope to hear about more strikes like this.
Yeah I feel like considering Ukraine is basically running a guerrilla operation, they could have just grabbed a few folks and said “alright this is going to sound ridiculous but we need you to travel really fucking far to hit one target because it’ll freak them out.” This is 100% speculative.
Similar to drones that struck Moscow. I assume they have people sneaking across borders with equipment and cover stories. Probably super dangerous. Maybe some have been caught that we don’t even know about. I wish them the best. Fuck Russia.
Yeah I am no expert but historically “we can hit you anywhere anytime“ has been very effective in messing with adversaries’ military strategy and propaganda at home.
Fuck the Russian government and Putin. Yes a lot of Russian citizens are on board, but it’s saddens me how a country with such a rich culture that has contributed so much to the world is becoming a rogue state.
Maybe a combo glider/Cessna? Whatever they used, it’s amazing news. Now hit the rail lines in the Far East, bringing stuff in and out of China and NK.
They used a two-seater prop plane turned into a drone before, so it wouldn’t exactly shock me if they did something similar again.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2024/04/03/ukraines-new-factory-smashing-drone-is-a-90000-sport-plane-with-a-robot-at-the-controls/
That would be a bold stroke. I’m not sure how they’d cope with that
Look up the published ranges of the shahed drones from Iran (2,500km or around 1,600 miles). Even if the Irainians are lying about it’s effective range it’s still possible for Ukraine to have copied and improved on the design.
Of course the drones are not that large and there’s a few fishing boats in the artic.