As of May 26, 2025, as many as 40 Tu-22M3s and 11 Tu-95MS bombers were concentrated at the Olenya airfield at the same time. Defense Express suggests that the Russians are constantly driving their bombers between different airfields on purpose in order to confuse the intelligence structures of the Defense Forces of Ukraine, reports UNN.
Details
The publication notes that against the background of the intensification of Russian strikes on Ukraine, any information concerning, in particular, the current capabilities of the strategic aviation of the aggressor country becomes relevant. Against this background, it is worth paying attention in particular to the satellite images published on Twitter by the authors of the AviVector resource.
For example, according to one of these images, as of May 26, 2025, as many as 40 Tu-22M3s, 11 Tu-95MS bombers, or 20% of the total fleet of aircraft of this type, and at the same time five An-12 aircraft (which, however, may belong to both transport and naval aviation of the Russian Federation) were concentrated at the Olenya airfield
These data on the presence of as many as 40 Tu-22M3 bombers on May 26, 2025, sharply contrast with the fact that as of the middle of this month, the rashists concentrated as many as 42 aircraft of this type at the Belaya airbase in Siberia. And this is despite the fact that the strategic aviation of the "VKS of the Russian Federation" has only up to 60 Tu-22M3s in total, Defense Express adds.
This directly implies that in these two weeks, the Russians drove back from the Belaya airfield to the Olenya base as many as four dozen of their missile carriers, which looks paradoxical in its own way. Because now the Russian Federation, if it uses the Tu-22M3 to strike Ukraine, it does so extremely limited, especially in comparison with 2023 and 2024.
Also, according to Defense Express, there is an interesting detail in the fact that out of the 11 Tu-95MS available at the Olenya airfield as of May 26, only three such bombers were involved in the missile strike on Ukraine on this day. This may look like a real ratio of the capabilities of the Russian strategic aviation in terms of "available aircraft/really ready for use."
There is important data on the Engels airfield, images of which are also provided by the authors of the AviVector resource. They indicate that as of May 25, 2025, the mentioned airbase simultaneously had six Tu-95MS, three Tu-160 and at the same time four Su-34, but on May 26, 2025 - only three Tu-95MS and Tu-160, and two Su-34
At the same time, it is stated that after a new massive missile strike on Ukraine on May 26, 2025, seven Tu-95MSs landed simultaneously at Engels, and one more aircraft of this type flew to the Olenya airfield.
From these specific maneuvers, it can be assumed that the Russians are constantly driving their bombers between different airfields on purpose in order to confuse the intelligence structures of the Defense Forces of Ukraine and partner countries. In particular, to complicate the fixation of the moment of combat departure to carry out a new missile strike on Ukraine. At the same time, it turns out that the rashists are going for such maneuvers even at the cost of overspending the limited resource of flight hours for the Tu-95MS, Tu-22M3 and Tu-160 at the same time