Footage of Russian strategic aircraft being hit in the Murmansk and Irkutsk regions is circulating on social media. The strikes were not carried out from a long distance. Most likely, the Russian Armed Forces faced a sophisticated technical diversion—the use of low-power drones controlled from long distances. Since the UAVs themselves had video cameras, the operators controlled them online. The damage will not be assessed anytime soon.
If we link these events to the nighttime bridge explosions, we can assume that they were part of a unified plan to distract at least some of the counterintelligence and law enforcement forces to urgent mass inspections of bridges, railroad tracks, and rolling stock before the main strike on the “strategists’” airbases.
At the same time, short-range drones carry very small charges and cause more damage with incendiary ammunition. Pilots have been talking about the need to build at least temporary shelters for aircraft, which could reduce damage, since the beginning of the special military operation.
