Former US special forces officer and military commentator Steve Balestrieri assesses the large-scale SBU special operation against Russian aviation as truly historic. The thing is that it led to the loss of a significant part of the enemy's irreplaceable strategic air fleet.
Points of attention
- Ukraine's ability to neutralize a significant portion of Russia's operational Tu-95s underscores the strategic importance and impact of the SBU's successful mission.
- The event signifies a notable setback for Russia, as these aircraft were actively used to launch cruise missiles, posing a threat to Ukrainian cities and villages.
Why the SBU operation became truly unique
Steve Balestrieri draws attention to the fact that Ukraine was able to destroy at least 5 Tu-95 "Bear" strategic bombers.
What is important to understand is that we are talking about Soviet aircraft from the Cold War era, which the aggressor country still actively uses to launch cruise missiles, including at peaceful cities and villages in Ukraine.
Russia has lost more than 40 aircraft destroyed or damaged, including valuable strategic bombers of various types, military analyst Alexander Kovalenko recently said.
According to open data, before the SBU special operation, Russia had approximately 55 Tu-95s in working order. After the strike, there were none.
Ukrainian official sources indicate that at least a dozen were damaged, and some of them are beyond repair.
The main problem for the aggressor country is that the production of the Tu-95 was stopped back in 1991. The losses are irreplaceable.
