Pictures<\/a> from earth mapping firm Planet Labs dated July 19 seem to confirm Ukraine’s announcement, as they show the bomber\u2019s tail section torn off where it is parked at the Engels-2 military base in Russia\u2019s Saratov region.<\/p>\n Read More on News<\/p>\n The imagery was also posted by AviVector,<\/a> a satellite imagery X account, which said, “the tail section of the Tu-95MS was completely destroyed and is beyond repair,” it added.<\/p>\n The airbase supports<\/a> Russia’s 184th Guards Heavy Bomber and 121st Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiments. The SBU said the strike showed that Russia’s strategic aviation \u201ccan no longer feel safe even at its most remote military airfields.\u201d <\/p>\n Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky had praised the operation as a successful \u201clong-range sanction\u201d against Russia, using Kyiv’s term for long-range strikes inside Russia. <\/p>\n Newsweek has contacted the Russian defense ministry for comment. <\/p>\n Significance of the Tu-95 <\/p>\n The Tu-95 is a Soviet-era aircraft which is the main strategic missile carrier for Russian forces to launch cruise missiles across Ukraine. <\/p>\n The aircraft can carry up to six cruise missiles, costs over $26 million and has a maximum range of 8,000 miles and is considered more reliable and easier to maintain than the newer Tu-160 strategic bomber. <\/p>\n Estimates from 2023 said Russia has 45 Tu-95MS bombers and 18 modernized Tu-95MSM aircraft are still in operation, the Kyiv Post reported.<\/a> <\/p>\n Manufacturing of Tu-95 airframes concluded in 1992, meaning the loss permanently removes one operational Kh-101 and Kh-555 missile carrier from an active fleet estimated at between 27 and 34 usable aircraft, according to military outlet Army Recognition.<\/a> <\/p>\n \u201cEvery strategic bomber eliminated means dozens of missiles that will not be launched at Ukrainian cities, saved Ukrainian lives, and tens of millions of dollars in irreparable losses,\u201d the SBU said in its statement. <\/p>\n According to the website Oryx<\/a>, which documents losses in the war using imagery as proof, Russian has lost 11 Tu-95MS strategic bombers since the start of the full-scale invasion. <\/p>\n Also, this week, Ukraine has stepped up strikes on other sites inside Russia where logistics centers belonging to Russia’s largest online retailer, Wildberries, were targeted by drones in St. Petersburg and Tver and occupied Crimea overnight Thursday. <\/p>\n Social media videos showed thick black smoke over part of St Petersburg by a logistics park that houses the Wildberries facility, south of the city. <\/p>\n Another strike was reported<\/a> at a separate Wildberries facility in the Shushary district of St. Petersburg, with black smoke also seen. <\/p>\n![\"This](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-1141871922.jpg\"\/)
Russia Can ‘No Longer Feel Safe’<\/p>\n