Ukraine braces for large overnight Russian strike as Tu‑160 and Tu‑95MS bombers take off
Monitored communications and airborne Tu‑160 and expected Tu‑95MS bombers point to a large combined missile and drone attack on Ukraine overnight, which President Volodymyr Zelensky says will be a “massive” strike as Kyiv and other regions activate air defenses.
Ukraine is preparing for what officials and open‑source channels describe as a large Russian air strike overnight, involving strategic bombers and a mix of missiles and drones.
On Tuesday afternoon, communications between Russia’s Olenya Airbase in Murmansk Oblast and strategic command and control centers in Moscow were being recorded, with additional combat radio frequencies going active. Departures of eight to ten Tu‑95MS strategic bombers from Olenya were expected to begin roughly two hours after those signals, indicating a coordinated sortie by Russia’s long‑range aviation.
Separately, three Russian Tu‑160 strategic bombers reportedly took off from Belaya airbase and were airborne amid the same warnings, adding another element to the anticipated strike package.
Earlier warnings said Russia was ready to carry out a large‑scale combined attack on Ukraine overnight and into the morning. According to those reports, three Tu‑160s were airborne and Tu‑95MS bombers were also expected to participate, with ballistic missiles, Zircon hypersonic missiles, cruise missiles, possible sea‑launched missiles, and waves of drones among the threats being monitored.
By early evening, initial launches were already being reported as the expected large‑scale attack began, with two jet‑powered aerial targets detected, though there was no detailed public information yet on where they were headed or what damage they might cause.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that a large‑scale combined missile and drone attack would take place during the night. Air raid alerts were already in effect in Kyiv due to the threat from unmanned aerial vehicles.
For Ukrainian air defense units, the main challenge is volume and variety. A combination of ballistic and cruise missiles, potentially including hypersonic systems such as Zircon, together with drones and possible sea‑launched weapons, is designed to complicate tracking and interception by coming from different directions and at different speeds.
The air war is not one‑sided. Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that its air defenses had intercepted nearly 900 Ukrainian drones overnight across several regions, as well as over Crimea and the Sea of Azov. The ministry presented this as a large Ukrainian strike that had been repelled, though the claim was not accompanied by detailed evidence and has not been independently verified.
Zelensky has warned that Moscow is preparing a “massive” aerial attack. A separate statement said that a large‑scale combined missile and drone attack would take place tonight.
Over the next day, key indicators will be the types and numbers of weapons Russia actually launches, the sectors they target, and how many Ukrainian intercepts are reported. Those outcomes will shape assessments of Ukraine’s remaining air defense capacity and whether outside partners step up deliveries of additional systems and ammunition.
Sources
- OSINT