MOSCOW (Reuters) -Ukraine attacked Russian nuclear-capable long-range bombers at a military base in Siberia on Sunday, the first such attack so far from the front lines more than 4,300 km (2,670 miles) away, according to pro-Russian bloggers.
Unverified video and pictures posted on social media showed Russian strategic bombers – whose purpose is to drop nuclear bombs on distance targets – on fire at the Belaya air base north of Irkutsk.
Reuters was unable to immediately verify the footage but in Kyiv, a Ukrainian intelligence official told Reuters that Ukraine’s domestic security agency, the SBU, conducted a large drone attack on over 40 Russian military aircraft.
The Ukrainian source, speaking on condition of anonymity to Reuters in Kyiv, said the struck aircraft included Tu-95 and Tu-22 strategic bombers, which Russia uses to fire long-range missiles at Ukraine.
Igor Kobzev, the governor of Irkutsk, said that there had been a drone attack on a military unit near the village of Sredny in the Usolsky district, but did not mention strategic aviation.
In video that he posted on Telegram, drones could be heard flying overhead and a giant plume of smoke rising into the sky.
He said, though, that it was the first such attack in that part of Siberia – and added that the number of drones in the attack was unclear. The drones, he said, had been launched from a truck.
The Belaya, or Sredny, airbase is located near the village of Sredny, and hosts Tupolev Tu-22M supersonic long-range strategic bomber, according to open source details about Russia’s armed forces.
There was also a Ukrainian drone attack in the Murmansk region of northern Russia, according to local officials. The Olenya airbase, which also hosts strategic aviation, is located in the Murmansk region, according to open source data.
(Reporting by Reuters in Moscow and Tom Balmforth in Kyiv; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
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