One senior western diplomat anticipated a “huge, vicious and unrelenting” assault by Moscow.
Still, Kofman suggested Russia’s options for retaliation may be limited, as it was already throwing a lot of its military might at Ukraine.
Maj Gen Christian Freuding told a YouTube podcast that “more than a dozen aircraft were damaged, TU-95 and TU-22 strategic bombers as well as A-50 surveillance planes”.
He said “only a handful” of the A-50s exist and can now no longer be used for spare parts.
Andriy Kovalenko, an official with Ukraine’s national security and defence council, said “statements by the Russian side do not correspond to reality”.
Despite heavy bombardment of Kharkiv and Kyiv over the past two days, Vladimir Putin has not yet carried out his threatened retaliation against Ukraine for its drone attack on Russia’s bomber fleet in earnest. It is expected to be a major, multi-pronged strike soon, US officials told Reuters. A senior Western diplomat predicted that Moscow would launch a “huge, vicious, and unrelenting” attack.
According to Michael Kofman, a Russia expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Russia may target defense manufacturing facilities and use intermediate-range ballistic missiles to retaliate against Ukraine’s SBU domestic security agency, which planned the attack last weekend. Nevertheless, Kofman said that since Russia was already directing a large portion of its military power toward Ukraine, its options for retaliation might be limited. “Overall, Russia’s capacity to significantly intensify strikes beyond what they have been doing and trying to do for the past month is severely limited. “.”.
According to the German military assessment, the Ukrainian drone attack, known as Operation Spiderweb, probably damaged around 10% of Russia’s fleet of strategic bombers and struck some of the planes as they were getting ready to strike Ukraine. “Over a dozen aircraft, including TU-95 and TU-22 strategic bombers as well as A-50 surveillance planes, were damaged,” Maj Gen Christian Freuding stated in a YouTube podcast. He claimed that there are “only a handful” of A-50s left and that they are no longer suitable for use as spare parts.
Even with the losses, Freuding did not expect Russian strikes against Ukraine to stop right away, pointing out that Moscow still had 90% of its strategic bombers, which can drop bombs and launch ballistic and cruise missiles. However, there will undoubtedly be an indirect effect because the remaining aircraft will have to fly more sorties, which will wear them out more quickly. More significantly, though, there will be a significant psychological impact. “”.
According to Freuding, the lack of protection for the aircraft was also explained by Russia’s sense of security within its large territory. “This is no longer the case following this successful operation. Russia must strengthen its security measures. “.”.
A large-scale prisoner exchange that was agreed upon last week has been accused of being thwarted by Russia and Ukraine. Kyiv has denied Russian claims that it has permanently delayed the prisoner swaps and accused Moscow of “playing dirty games.”. Russia said it would return the remains of 6,000 Ukrainian soldiers who were killed, while Kyiv and Moscow agreed to free over 1,000 individuals on each side during talks in Istanbul on Monday.
In a statement, Russia’s defense ministry said: “The Ukrainian side is not yet establishing a timeline for the return of these individuals and the transfer of the equivalent number of Russian prisoners of war, despite the Russian side having given the Ukrainian side a list of 640 names. “”.
According to Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, no date had been set for the return of the bodies, and a list of names that Russia claimed would be released did not align with the agreement’s conditions. According to Andriy Kovalenko, a representative of Ukraine’s national security and defense council, “Russian statements do not match reality.”.
