Russia has shifted long-range aircraft to the east, but this will complicate the maintenance of aircraft - British intelligence

10:27 05 January Kyiv, Ukraine

British intelligence at the Ministry of Defense reported that Russia had dispersed long-range aircraft, especially to airfields located far from Ukraine. This is due to the fact that on December 5 and 26, 2022, there were explosions at the long-range aviation base in Engels, as a result of which several aircraft were damaged.

On December 27, 2022, NSDC Secretary Alexei Danilov announced that the Russian Federation had redeployed Tu-95MS BEAR heavy bombers and Tu-22M3 BACKFIRE medium bombers to the Russian Far East.

At the same time, analysts note that long-range aircraft will still be able to bombard Ukraine with cruise missiles, since the weapons have a range of 5,000 km in addition to the range of bombers.
"However, flights from dispersal areas will add additional maintenance workload and further reduce the limited flight hours available on these legacy aircraft, " the statement said.