UKRAINIAN drones have blitzed several high-tech warplanes over 1,000miles deep inside Russia – dealing a devastating blow to Vladimir Putin’s waning fleet of fighters.
It marks one of the deepest drone attacks in the brutal war and follows a slew of deadly strikes on key Kremlin military sites – including the genius Operation Spiderweb plot.
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£30million Su-57 stealth fighters were reportedly blitzed Credit: East2West
Su-34 bombers, worth around £27million, were also reportedly damaged Credit: East2West
In its latest coup, Kyiv said drones hit Su-57 stealth fighters and Su-34 bombers at Shagol airbase in the Chelyabinsk region – 1,060miles within Russia.
The state-of-the-art jets are worth around £30million and £27million respectively, with Ukrainian intelligence still assessing the extent of the damage.
If confirmed, the strikes against Putin’s most modern warplanes – held far beyond the Ural Mountains – will be a first for Kyiv.
Moscow has yet to comment on the losses, with regional governor Alexey Teksler dismissing the incident as an “attempted UAV attack” that was “thwarted”.
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Teksler also declared there had been no casualties or damage.
But Russia has form with lying about damage to its military arsenal.
Drones were said to be flying over residential areas at dawn in several local social media posts.
Thunderous explosions were then heard near the Chelyabinsk Higher Military Aviation School of Navigators, a key training hub for Russia’s long-range and drone operators.
The reported strike hit Shagol airbase in Russia’s Chelyabinsk region Credit: East2West
Aerial footage shows the Russian fleet on the airfield deep within its territory Credit: East2West
Damage was reported online, with one writing that the attack was “really frightening”.
Residents told of windows shaking, car alarms blaring, and smoke billowing from the airfield.
The school’s hangars and training facilities were reportedly damaged, with hospitals switching to emergency regimes.
It comes after a swarm of Ukrainian drones turned Russia’s seaside holiday spot into “Costa del hell” as toxic “oil rain” poured down near Putin’s estate.
Kyiv blasted two major oil plants in the Russian resort town of Tuapse and smothered the region in oil, fires and toxic black smoke.
The toxic smog of the “disaster zone” may even contaminate Putin’s lair, a £1 billion palace just 47 miles away from the stricken seaside hotspot.
The overnight strikes on April 20 were the second of Kyiv’s attacks on the oil plant in the previous fortnight.
The Tuapse refinery had already halted operations after Ukrainian drones rained hell on the plant on April 16.
The fires at the oil depot have been burning for three days and the oil rain is coating homes, cars and streets in a sticky, black residue.
Residents near the blitz site described the scenes as apocalyptic.
A woman from Krivenkovskoye village, 25km northwest of Tuapse — in the direction of Putin’s palace — said: “We have oil everywhere now.
“Puddles are black from oil, roads are covered with oil… it’s so bad, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Last year, Ukrainian forces launched their most devastating drone blitz on airfields to that point in Operation Spiderweb.
The masterful operation inflicted $7billion worth of damage and left Putin’s precious fleet of bombers in tatters.
Stunning satellite photos showed patches of scorched earth where valuable Russian jets one lay.
The debris has been hastily removed – perhaps in an attempt to conceal the scale of the destruction.
Elsewhere, wreckages of warplanes blown to pieces remain on the tarmac, with fragments strewn across the runway.
The covert drone plot – 18 months in the planning – targeted four airfields deep inside Russia, and is reminiscent of the most daring raids of WW2 that turned the tide against the Nazis.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky oversaw the operation and said: “It’s genuinely satisfying when something I authorized a year and six months ago comes to fruition and deprives Russians of over forty units of strategic aviation.
“We will continue this work.”
Putin’s doomsday bomber fleet was crippled with 41 – a third of the total – of his most prized aircraft left lying in smouldering wrecks on the tarmac.
Ukraine said the sneak attack was worth $7bn (£5.2bn) in damage to Russia – caused by just 117 cheaply made drones.
