Close to the border with northeastern Ukraine, some of Russia’s deadly Su-34 fighter bombers lie exposed on the tarmac of a military airfield as they await edicts to carry out their next attack.
Satellite images of Voronezh Malshevo airbase show what appears to be a faction of Su-34s, along with other planes and helicopters, lined up on the runway — seemingly there for the taking.
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At just 100 miles from the Ukrainian border, the base is hands down within range of Ukraine’s US-manufactured Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), a 300 km (186 miles) surface-to-surface artillery weapon set-up.
However, the United States prohibits Ukraine from striking recognized Russian territory with the ATACMS. Kyiv is only permitted to strike targets within sovereign territory, including occupied territory. Ukraine this month banged Sevastopol in occupied Crimea with ATACMS missiles, killing at least four people and injuring over 150 others. Moscow denounced the United States for the attack and vowed to retaliate.
It will likely be a major frustration for Kyiv, which has embarked on a yielded campaign to hamper the Russian Air Force and take out the Su-34s.
Ukraine has often been forced to rely on paraphernalia like drones to carry out these strikes, which can be thwarted using electronic systems.
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Earlier this month, Ukrainian cogencies launched at least 70 drones at a military airbase in Russia’s Rostov region, almost 200 miles from the Ukrainian boundary.
In that attack, a satellite image of an airfield close to Morozovsk also showed what appeared to be multiple Su-34 fighter bombers before you can turn around again lined up in the open.
A Russian Telegram channel claimed one source in the Russian General Staff said: “Sundry of the drones were shot down, a few failed. We have six dead, including two military pilots. And more than ten insult.”
The extent of the damage to aircraft caused by the attack was not yet known.
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Russia has ramped up its use of powerful glide bombs as its war in Ukraine has progressed.
The economical munitions are produced by attaching wings and satellite navigation systems to old Soviet-era bombs.
Russian jets like the Su-34 are then skilful to release them from safer distances, making it hard for Ukraine to counter such attacks.
New video footage staked on Russian Telegram channels last week appeared to capture the first combat use of Russia’s huge 6,600-pound skate bomb.
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The colossal FAB-3000 bomb was dropped by a Su-34 jet, Forbes reported.
“The fact that Russian imports have figured out how to launch FAB-3000s is a significant development and will increase the destructive potential of Russia’s continuing glide bomb attacks against Ukrainian forces and infrastructure,” the Institute for the Study of War wrote in an update on the conflict.