During an explosion at the "Olenya" military airfield in the Murmansk region of the Russian Federation, two Tu-22M3 strategic bombers were damaged at once.
This was reported by Andriy Yusov, a representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, in a comment to Radio Svoboda.
"We are talking about an explosion over the location of the planes. Moreover, I can confirm the damage to two Tu-22M3s. And there are corresponding tail numbers - tail No. 33 and tail No. 31. There are holes in the upper part of the fuselage of tail No. 33. And tail No. 31 was also damaged," Yusov said.
According to the intelligence representative, the restoration of these planes may take several months. Also, the air alarm did not go off at the airfield during the strike.
Yusov also clarified the date and time when it happened. It was previously reported that the strike on the military airfield "Olenya", "Dyagilevo" and Engels of the Saratov region of Russia took place at night and in the morning of July 27, 2024.
"We can say from the dates that it occurred on July 25. The information was communicated later, after additional verification. And indeed, on July 25, at approximately 3:47 pm, a similar strike was recorded," Yusov said.
On the morning of July 30, the Russian service of Radio Svoboda published satellite images, which, according to the journalists, "show the absence of traces of the Ukrainian attack on the strategic aviation base."
Yusov commented that satellite images "are not the only source of information to be taken into account".
"It should be noted that, of course, satellite images are a very important source of information, but the nature of the damage is different and, of course, it is not the only source of information that should be relied on. But the information is confirmed from various sources, and we can already talk about the very fact of this incident as something that definitely occurred," said Yusov.
Yusov didn’t confirm nor deny Ukraine's involvement in this strike. The Russian authorities did not comment on the situation.
