Russia Hides Its Powerful Bombers Away In The Arctic As Ukraine's Drones Loom Overhead, Says Expert

With Ukrainian forces having demonstrated the capability to carry out strikes deep inside Russian territory by hitting strategic airbases, Moscow has reportedly moved its long-range bomber fleet away to the Arctic region.

Russia has hidden its strategic bombers from the airbase in Ryazan to the Arctic region, defense expert Oleg Zhdanov reportedly said in an exclusive interview with a Ukrainian online publication Obozrevatel.

Zhdanov is a Kyiv-based military analyst who served as a colonel in the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

According to Zhdanov, the bombers from the Ryazan, which were earlier used to carry out missile attacks on Ukraine, have now been moved to Russia's strategic airbase in the Arctic located in the Murmansk region.

Responding to a question on the consequences of Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian airfields and the prospect of Russia using its bomber fleet again to carry out bombing missions, Zhdanov said, "Yes, indeed, they will hide. By the way, these bombers from Ryazan are already in the Arctic, in the Murmansk region. There is also a strategic aviation base there, and Russia is already moving them there."

"For us, this is very good. Of course, moving planes is the easiest and fastest thing to do. But in order for them to be able to deliver missile strikes, it is necessary to transfer the entire technical base. And this is not one month of painstaking work and not one flight of transport aviation," Zhdanov added.

The Ukrainian defense expert also shared that Moscow is worried "for each aircraft that might get destroyed." "For them, this would be a huge loss. So, of course, they will hide them," he said further.

Asked if it would mean a lesser number of Russian missile strikes on Ukraine, given that the bombers have now moved to the Arctic, he pointed out that Moscow has shifted the Tu-122 from Ryazan.

Zhdanov said the major concern of Ukraine is the Tu-95, which remains in Engels. The bomber is capable of carrying eight missiles on external wing mounts and six inside the bomb bay, and Russian forces have been using its Tu-95s to carry out bombing missions.

"If they are moved from Engels and hid them somewhere far away, then yes, we can talk about weakening" of bombing missions, Zhdanov clarified.

Speaking about the Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian airfields, Zhdanov said the attacks had completely destroyed the myth about Putin's army and its "most impregnable air defense."

"In principle, we completely destroyed another myth. If at the beginning of the war, Russia boasted that it had the 'second army in the world,' then I remind you that Russia has always emphasized that they have the strongest and most impregnable air defense in the world. But it so happened that there were explosions," Zhdanov reportedly told Apostrophe TV in an earlier interview.

Russia has blamed Ukraine for carrying out the attacks using modified Soviet-era drones — on an oil tank near an airfield in Kursk in western Russia on Dec. 6 and on the military airbases of Dyagilevo in Ryazan Oblast and Engels in Saratov Oblast on Dec. 5. While Kyiv has not claimed responsibility for the strikes, as reported on Dec. 9, the strikes deep inside Russian territory have unnerved Moscow.