Ukraine Keeps Eating Into Russia’s Irreplaceable Tu-95 Fleet—12 Bombers Now Lost or Damaged

Aug 31, 2026 13:40 Updated Aug 31, 2026 14:42

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Vlad Litnarovych

News Writer

Russia has now reportedly lost or sustained damage to 12 Tu-95 strategic bombers in Ukrainian attacks, further reducing a Cold War-era fleet that Moscow can no longer replace with newly manufactured aircraft, Spanish defense outlet Defensa y Aviación reported on August 28.

The latest aircraft was struck at Russia’s Engels-2 airbase in the Saratov region, one of the principal bases for Moscow’s strategic aviation fleet and a launch point for long-range cruise missile attacks against Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that personnel from the Security Service of Ukraine’s Alpha special operations unit had struck a Russian Tu-95MS missile carrier at Engels.

The aircraft is part of the bomber fleet Russia regularly uses to launch long-range cruise missiles against Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.

Footage from the area showed smoke rising near the airbase as Ukrainian drones approached the facility. Subsequent satellite imagery showed severe damage to the targeted Tu-95MS, including substantial damage to its right wing.

OSINT assessments indicated that the structural damage may be severe enough to leave the bomber beyond economical repair.

That matters because Russia cannot simply manufacture another Tu-95 to replace it.

The Tupolev Tu-95, known to NATO as the Bear, is a Soviet-designed turboprop strategic bomber capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear weapons. The aircraft first flew in 1952 and entered Soviet service several years later.

The Tu-95MS missile-carrying variant entered service in the 1980s and remains a core component of Russia’s long-range aviation force. It can carry Kh-55-family cruise missiles and has been adapted to employ newer long-range weapons used in repeated Russian strikes against Ukraine.

Although more than 500 Tu-95-family aircraft were produced during the Soviet period, production ended decades ago. Russia therefore relies on maintaining, modernizing and cannibalizing its surviving aircraft rather than replacing destroyed airframes with newly built bombers.

That makes Ukrainian strikes on the fleet fundamentally different from attacks on weapons Russia can continue manufacturing in large numbers.

According to open-source loss tracking cited by Defensa y Aviación, Russia had already lost 11 Tu-95 aircraft to Ukrainian attacks before the latest strike, including eight assessed as destroyed and three damaged on the ground.

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New Satellite Images Show Impact of Ukrainian Strikes on Russia’s Engels Air Base. Here’s What We Know

Jul 19, 2026 15:58

If the newly struck Engels aircraft is ultimately written off, the reported number of Tu-95s destroyed or damaged by Ukrainian attacks would rise to 12.

Russia began the full-scale invasion with only a fraction of the hundreds of Tu-95s originally manufactured still operational, making each permanent loss increasingly difficult to absorb.

The Tu-95 is often compared with the US Air Force’s B-52 Stratofortress. Both are Cold War-era strategic bombers that have remained operational for decades through repeated modernization programs, although the two aircraft use substantially different propulsion and design concepts.

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War in Ukraine

Ukraine’s SBU Alpha Unit Strikes Russian Tu-95MS Bomber Used in Attacks on Ukraine

Aug 28, 2026 12:27

Ukraine has also inflicted losses on Russia’s Tu-22M3 fleet, another important component of Moscow’s long-range aviation force.

Open-source assessments cited in the report put Russian Tu-22M3 losses from Ukrainian attacks at 12 aircraft, including nine destroyed and three damaged.

Unlike the turboprop Tu-95, the Tu-22M3 is a supersonic jet bomber designed for high-speed long-range strike missions. Russia has used the aircraft during the war to launch Kh-22 and Kh-32 missiles against Ukraine.

Previously, a Russian Tu-22M3 long-range bomber crashed in Russia’s Irkutsk region. The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the crash, stating that the aircraft was undergoing a training mission.

According to the Russian military, the crew ejected and survived.

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