According to the Ukrainian Defence Intelligence Agency GUR, a Russian bomber was hit on the ground at Olenya Airfield, GUR claimed that a Tu-22M3 supersonic bomber was hit on the ground 1800 km away by a UAV attack. Tu-22M3 is one of Russia's three types in the strategic bomber fleet, with the others being the even larger Tu-160 and the propeller-driven Tu-95.
Alongside Tu-95, Tu-22M3 makes up almost half of the Russian bomber fleet. Ukraine has been utilising long-range UAV attacks as a more sustainable and less risky alternative to those with air-launched cruise missiles against critical targets in the Russian mainland.
The UAVs used in such attacks consist of very large kamikaze UAVs or old propeller-driven aircraft converted to act as kamikaze UAVs like Cessna 172. Russia has adopted a similar tactic using Iranian Shaheed-136 kamikaze UAVs manufactured under Geran-2. The UAVs have been used to hit civilian settlements alongside military targets.
The long-range and cheapness of the UAVs have pushed Ukraine to seek alternative air defence methods like modified machine gun mounts to exploit the crude flight path and low speed of these UAVs.
