UKRAINE hit the Russian Air Force with attacks on 15 aircraft thousands of miles behind the front lines.
Dramatic drone footage showed 15 aircraft hit, including 11 Sukhoi and MiG fighters, three helicopters and an Antonov An-26 cargo plane.
The SBU spy service claimed that the blitz destroyed more than $1 billion worth of Russian military equipment.
The daring operation saw Ukrainian long-range drones reach deep into Russia, hitting five separate military airfields in undisclosed locations far from the battlefield.
Ukraine’s security service said its elite Alpha unit was behind the strikes that hit the heart of Vladimir Putin’s air force and left planes burning on runways.
The destroyed fleet included Su-30SM and Su-34 jets – some of Moscow’s most important front-line strike aircraft – along with older Su-27 and Su-24 fighters, which are still heavily used to bomb Ukraine.
DISPLAY
Zelenskyy demands that Putin meet the losses of almost 2 million for the biggest losses since World War 2
DEEP STAKE
At least four killed and several injured when Putin’s drones hit a passenger train
Also lost were MiG-31 fighters, a key pillar of Russia’s air defense network, and the launch platform for Kinzhal hypersonic missiles.
Among the wreckage were three helicopters – a Mi-8, Mi-26 and Mi-28 – crippling Russia’s transport, logistics and direct air support capabilities in one hit.
The SBU said fuel and ammunition depots at the airports also went up in flames, adding to the damage.
The agency said in a report: “Last year alone, five military airfields were hit by our long-range drones. As a result, the enemy will no longer be able to lift 15 aircraft into the sky.”
The attacks cover a devastating series of strikes against Mad Vlad’s air defenses.
Earlier this month, Ukraine said the same Alpha unit destroyed or disabled an estimated $4 billion worth of Russian air defense systems. United24 Media reported.
Launchers including the S-300, S-350 and S-400 were hit, as well as advanced radar systems.
The humiliation for Moscow comes as Volodymyr Zelenskiy steps up pressure for a diplomatic showdown with Vladimir Putin.
Zelenskyy called on the Kremlin tyrant to meet face-to-face for the first time since the beginning of the invasion, as casualties approach two million.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Zelenskyi was ready to confront Putin directly on two deadlocked issues blocking peace: Russia’s illegal land grab in eastern Ukraine and control of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant.
On Wednesday, he said: “It is precisely to solve these problems that the president is ready to meet with Putin and discuss them.
The comments follow rare trilateral talks involving Ukraine, Russia and the US in Abu Dhabi last week.
US officials said the discussions had gone “better than expected”, raising hopes that a leaders’ summit could follow – although no breakthrough was achieved.
Putin remains fixated on swallowing the entire Donbas region and refuses to stop the war unless Ukraine surrenders the territory it has spent four years fighting to defend.
But Kyiv flatly rejected the request.
Meanwhile, a study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimates that the war has already claimed more than 1.8 million lives, with a total of up to two million by spring.
Russia suffered the heaviest losses – around 1.2 million casualties, including an estimated 325,000 dead.
Ukraine’s losses are believed to exceed 140,000 killed, with Zelenskyy saying last week that around 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died since the invasion.
The scale of the carnage represents the worst death toll of any conflict since World War II.
Despite the losses, Putin refuses to release the number of Russian casualties as of September 2022.
And while Ukrainian drones burn Russian airfields, Putin’s forces continue to target civilians.
The nighttime attacks on Kyiv killed a mother and father and left their four-year-old child an orphan.
In Kharkiv, terrified passengers fled a train carrying more than 200 civilians after it was hit by Russian drones.
At least four people were killed, with Zelensky later calling the attack a “terrorist act”.
Concerns are now growing among Western intelligence agencies that Putin is leaning on China to help develop nuclear-capable hypersonic weapons, with specialized machinery reportedly being supplied to make the warheads, they say. TheTelegraph.
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