Ukraine’s intelligence directorate has achieved a notable milestone, potentially executing its most impressive strike on Russian territory since the conflict intensified 28 months ago.
According to Ukrainian Pravda, citing intelligence sources, the directorate launched long-range strike drones, covering an astounding 1,100 miles to target the Olenya airfield, a crucial Russian air force bomber base located in Murmansk, northern Russia.
This strike on Olenya was reportedly part of a larger Ukrainian operation, which also included deploying explosive drones towards two other Russian air bases and an oil refinery.
Utilizing an expanding arsenal of locally-manufactured drones, Ukraine’s intelligence directorate has significantly intensified its attacks on targets within Russia. These attacks primarily focus on airfields and oil refineries but also target weapons factories and space facilities. As the frequency and scope of these attacks increase, Russian air defenses are increasingly struggling to intercept the drones.
The reported 1,100-mile strike surpasses the previous distance record held by Ukrainian drones by 300 miles. In May, a Ukrainian drone—a modified propeller-driven sport plane—successfully hit an oil refinery in Salavat, Russia, located over 800 miles from the Ukrainian front lines.
The exact type of drone used in the Olenya strike remains unspecified. While modified sport planes are known for their extended range, Ukraine’s intelligence directorate operates more than a dozen different drone models.
The strategic importance of the Olenya airfield is clear. It is one of several bases that regularly supports the Russian air force’s Tupolev Tu-22M3 bombers.
The fleet includes approximately 63 Tu-22M3 bombers, along with around 55 Tupolev Tu-95s and 17 Tupolev Tu-160s. These bombers frequently conduct cruise missile attacks on Ukrainian troops and civilians, aiming to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses and often succeeding.
Typically, these bombers launch missiles from hundreds of miles away, beyond the effective range of most Ukrainian air defenses. However, a rare incident in April saw a Ukrainian S-200 heavy surface-to-air missile reportedly hit an airborne Tu-22M3 over southern Russia.
Ukrainian forces generally target the 139-foot, swing-wing bombers while they are on the ground. In both 2022 and the previous year, Ukrainian drones successfully targeted Tu-22M3s at their Russian bases, reportedly destroying one bomber and damaging another.
It remains unclear if the recent raid on Olenya affected any parked bombers. The Kremlin rarely acknowledges such losses, leaving analysts to rely on commercial satellite imagery to detect any damaged aircraft. Currently, there is no clear imagery showing wrecked Tu-22M3s at the Olenya base.
What is evident is that Kyiv operatives are not only maintaining their attacks on Russia’s most formidable warplanes while they are vulnerable on the ground but are also escalating these efforts. If the recent strike occurred as reported by Pravda, Russian bombers are no longer secure even within a thousand miles of the front lines.