Berlin, June 7 — A Ukrainian drone assault last weekend inflicted serious damage on Russia’s long-range air power, likely crippling around 10% of its strategic bomber fleet, according to a senior German military official, reported by Arab News.
Major General Christian Freuding, who oversees Berlin’s military support to Kyiv, said in a podcast reviewed by Reuters that more than a dozen aircraft were hit, including TU-95 and TU-22 bombers as well as rare A-50 surveillance planes—Russia’s equivalent of NATO’s AWACS.
“The A-50s were probably not operational when struck, but they are now unusable—even for spare parts. Only a few of these aircraft exist, so the loss is significant,” Freuding noted. He confirmed that the bombers targeted were part of Russia’s nuclear triad, capable of delivering nuclear weapons by air, sea, or land.
The U.S. shares a similar view. American officials told Reuters the drone raid likely hit up to 20 aircraft, destroying nearly half of them. Experts warn the damage could take Russia years to recover from.
Despite the blow, Freuding said Russia still retains about 90% of its strategic bomber fleet, enough to maintain its current level of strikes on Ukraine. However, the reduced fleet means remaining aircraft must fly more missions, accelerating wear—and delivering a psychological shock to Russian command.
“Russia had grown too comfortable in its vast territory. These strikes proved otherwise,” Freuding said, adding that the attacks targeted airfields near Moscow, Murmansk, and Belaya, using AI-guided drones. A fifth attempt near Russia’s far east reportedly failed.
He concluded, “This operation not only hit equipment, it hit confidence—and it forces Russia to rethink its sense of invulnerability.”
