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DRAMATIC footage captured the moment Ukraine "shot down" a Russian Tu-22M3 nuke bomber sending it spiralling to the ground. The £228million aircraft was part of Vladimir Putin’s nuclear strike force - and the downing is seen as a major blow to the dictator. It crashed over the Stavropol region - some 250 miles from the border - in southern Russia after completing a bombing attack on Ukraine. The long-range strategic bomber was shot down by a S-200 anti-aircraft missile system, said Channel 2, citing sources in Ukraine's GUR military intelligence agency. The GUR said: “As a result of the damage,...

Russia tried downplaying the destruction of one of its prized supersonic bombers. Ukraine has launched two major kamikaze drone strikes that took out one of Putin's prized nuclear bombers in a spectacular fireball and caused significant damage to a train station used to supply Russia's invasion of Ukraine. New footage of the strike on Soltsy airbase in the Novgorod region shows one of Russia's nuclear bombers being swallowed by an enormous fireball. Smoke billowing from the fireball could be seen for miles around. -snip- The attack on the prized bomber came a day before a major railway station was also...

ONE of Putin's prized war planes has been damaged after a kamikaze drone strike deep inside Russian territory. The attack, at the military airport in the Novgorod region more than 700 miles from Ukraine, witnessed a "helicopter style" drone. The ministry said nobody was hurt and the fire was quickly extinguished. The aircrafts which survived the attack are reportedly being being moved to an airfield in the Murmansk region. The Russian defence ministry admitted a strike: “The Kyiv regime carried out a terrorist attack using a copter-type UAV on a military airfield in Novgorod region." "As a result of the...

The Russians continue to deny they are in violation of the INF Treaty, but if they’re indeed upgrading Tu-22s with in-flight refueling, this is another way they’re doing it in addition to building and deploying intermediate-range nukes on Russian soil. As part of the original treaty, the U.S. insisted that Russia remove the in-flight refueling capability from Tu-22s, making them less of a strategic asset. Adding it again means that they will have to be counted as such, under the INF and the New START Treaty, which expires in 2021. On many fronts, the U.S. and Russia are increasingly at...

A group of Russian Tu-22M3 Backfire bombers have supposedly arrived at Hamedan Air Base in western Iran. Photos (below) show them accompanied by at least one IL-76 tanker-transport. The Backfires have supposedly been deployed there for air strikes again ISIS. If these reports prove true, the deployment would be an unprecedented sign of Iranian-Russian military cooperation, and another indicator that Russia is far from finished with its use of fixed-wing air power in the region. Tu-22M3s have been suddenly active once again over Syria, flying long-range missions originating from within Russia’s borders and accompanied by forward-deployed Flanker derivatives once entering...

India’s Ministry of Defence has sought to buy four strategic Tu-22M3 bombers and other latest high-tech weaponry from Russia, Interfax reported. This was expressed in the official stand of the ‘Make in India’ Programme at the INNOPROM International Industrial Exhibition in Yekaterinburg. Interfax reported that, in addition to the bombers, the Indian Air Force is also seeking to purchase 80 Mi-17 helicopters and six Il-76 airplanes, in which the Israeli radar system, the ‘Falcon,’ can be installed. The Indian Defence Ministry is also keen to acquire modern missile systems, and would like to buy twelve S-400 ‘Triumf’ anti-aircraft missile systems....

The Soviet-era Tu-22M3 bomber entered service in 1989 but has been modernised since then Russian defence ministry sources say a squadron of Tupolev Tu-22M3 long-range bombers will be based in Crimea - but experts question the strategic value of such a move for Russia. Russia's Interfax news agency reported the plan, quoting an unnamed ministry source, though it has not been officially confirmed. Other Russian media also reported it. Russia has previously pledged to beef up its military forces in Crimea, which has been internationally isolated since Russia annexed it from Ukraine in March 2014. Western nations imposed sanctions on...