Ukrainian Ministry of Defence: Russian bombers looking for Ukrinian air defence positions

DENYS KARLOVSKYI — WEDNESDAY, 25 MAY 2022, 16:23

Russian military command has intensified the use of long-range and strategic bombers to detect Ukrainian air defence systems.

Source: Oleksandr Motuzianyk, Defence Ministry spokesman, at a briefing at the Ukraine-Ukrinform media centre

Motuzianyk's quote: "The aggressor is conducting intense fire along the front line and into the depths of the Ukrainian defence in Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts. The enemy has intensified the use of aviation, especially assault and army aviation to support its ground offensive.

Russian use of long-range and strategic bombers continues to expose the air defence systems of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and to define new boundaries for the launch of cruise missiles on the territory of our state.

According to the Chief Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence, cruise missiles have been launched by the crews of Russian Tu-22M3 and Tu-95/160 long-range bombers from the airspace over the Azov and Caspian Seas as well as the Rostov region."

Background: 

  • Yesterday, on 24 May, the Ministry of Defence said that the Russian army was preparing for a long–term war for the southern and eastern regions of Ukraine.

  • The British Ministry of Defence reported that Russia had suffered the same losses in three months of war against Ukraine as the Soviet army had suffered in Afghanistan during the nine years of the 1979-1989 war.