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Russia Reportedly Moves Tu-95 Bombers to Secret Airfield, Cutting Missile Flight Time to Ukraine
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![Photo of Vlad Litnarovych]( "Photo of Vlad Litnarovych")
Russia has reportedly begun launching its Tu-95MS strategic bombers from an undisclosed airfield, a shift that could cut missile flight times toward Ukraine by roughly 30 minutes, according to open-source monitoring group Tracking, tracking Russian long-range aviation on November 24.
The analysts say that the Olenya Air Base, long used as the primary launch hub for Russia’s Tu-95 bomber fleet, appears to have been phased out for strike missions.
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According to the monitoring collective Tracking, the bombers involved in Russia’s large-scale missile attacks on October 30 and November 19 did not take off from Olenya, but instead departed from a still-unidentified airfield.
The group said the relocation has direct consequences for Ukrainian early-warning timelines.
“During the missile attacks on October 30 and November 19, Tu-95MS aircraft took off from a different airfield. Based on current analysis, the time required for these bombers to reach their launch areas has decreased by about 30 minutes, meaning missiles now approach Ukrainian airspace in roughly two hours and thirty minutes,” the group wrote.
Defense analysts note that Russia has been searching for ways to safeguard its long-range aviation assets after a Ukrainian operation “Spiderweb” struck military airfields deep inside Russia.
Earlier, SBU head Vasyl Malyuk disclosed unusual and high-risk challenges that Ukraine faced while planning Operation Spiderweb, a covert drone strike on multiple Russian military airfields.
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