Ukrainian drone reportedly destroys Russian supersonic plane

A Russian supersonic bomber was destroyed in an apparent drone strike carried out by Ukraine — with dramatic photos showing the aircraft engulfed in a huge fireball in the middle of an airfield deep inside Russia.

The images posted on social media — including by Anton Gerashchenko, an aide to Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs — appear to show a Tu-22M3 supersonic long-range bomber on fire.

British military intelligence said Tuesday that the bomber was likely destroyed in a weekend drone attack targeting the Soltsy-2 air base south of St. Petersburg, which Moscow blamed on Ukraine.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Saturday that a military airfield in the Novgorod region, where bombers like the Tu-22M3 are stationed, had been attacked by a Ukrainian drone and one plane had been damaged.

According to the ministry, the copter-style drone had been shot down by “small arms fire” and nobody had been injured. It offered no additional details.

“This is at least the third successful attack on LRA (long range aviation) airfields, again raising questions about Russia’s ability to protect strategic locations deep inside the country,” British military intelligence said in its latest bulletin.

If a copter-style drone had really been used in the strike, UK analysts argued, it bolstered the theory that some drone attacks were being launched from within Russia, considering that such drones were unlikely to have had the range to reach the airfield from across the border more than 400 miles away.

Ukraine, which rarely takes public responsibility for attacks inside Russia, has not commented on the bomber’s fiery destruction.

Kyiv has previously said Russia has used the Tu-22M3 to launch Kh-22 cruise missiles at targets across Ukraine — and it has vowed to do everything it can to annihilate Russian military assets.

Western military experts believe Russia has around 60 of the aircraft, which cost around $40 million each.

Saturday’s drone attack on the Novgorod air base deep inside Russia drew the ire of influential Russian military bloggers, who lashed the country’s Defense Ministry for not storing the aircraft in hangars, or using “even elementary protective structures and nets” to shield the bombers from quadcopters, according to an update from the Institute for the Study of War think tank.

With Post wires