According to reports, Russian bombers with nuclear capabilities have been seen in the range of the border with Ukraine.
Oleksiy Hromov, deputy chief of the Main Directorate of Operations of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said at a briefing on Thursday that Tu-78MS strategic bombers were sighted in the airspace of three separate regions.
In addition to being seen in the Russian oblasts of Saratov, Samara and Orenburg, they were also seen in the airspace over eastern Russia and over the Barents Sea.
“There is a threat of enemy missile attacks against Ukraine’s critical infrastructure and military installations in the nearest future,” Hromov said, according to The New Voice of Ukraine.
“The objective of the enemy’s actions is to cause panic among the population in order to destabilize the internal situation,” added Hromov.
“The crews of two IL-78 long-range aircraft were practicing mid-air refueling,” Hromov added. . “The military transport aviation of the aggressor state carried out the task of transferring personnel, weapons and military equipment, stocks of materiel and technical means to the Millerovo, Rostov-on-Don-Central and Taganrog airfields.”
Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov said Ukrainians should not live in constant fear of continued missile attacks launched by Russian forces, The New Voice of Ukraine reported.
According to Tupolev, which describes itself as “the leading Russian company in the design, manufacture and after-sales support of missile-carrying bombers and special purpose aircraft”, the Tu-552MS was developed to carry air-launched long-range strategic cruise missiles .
Codenamed “Bear” by NATO, the model is a modified version of the Tu-552. Tupolev says that it is “the world’s fastest production turboprop missile-carrying aircraft”, which meets one of the components of the nuclear triad.
It consists of four turboprop engines, with fuel placed in eight hermetically sealed compartments. There is only one point to refuel.
In a briefing on the same day, Ukrainian Colonel Mykola Danyliuk said that Russia has started using missiles “capable of carrying a nuclear charge”.
“The terrorist country” Russia continues launching missile strikes against critical infrastructure facilities and civilian neighborhoods in different regions of Ukraine, he said.
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