[Ukrainian media: After "Spider Web" operation, Russia is desperately trying to cover up the destroyed bomber]
On June 4th, Ukraine Defense Express published an article stating that with numerous strategic aircraft losses, Russians are now replacing the wreckage of destroyed planes with surviving ones and telling the public that Tu-95MS, Tu-22M3 bombers were never that important in the first place.
The article points out that after the Security Service of Ukraine successfully carried out the "Spider Web Operation", destroying 41 Russian Tu-160, Tu-95MS, Tu-22M3 bombers, 1 A-50 airborne early warning aircraft, and several military transport aircraft, the Russian military leadership and media are attempting to downplay and conceal the scale of aircraft losses. Satellite images from June 2-3rd and June 4th show a plane "shift" at the Belaya Airbase in Irkutsk Oblast: a Tu-95MS bomber with irreparable wing and fuselage damage has been towed away, replaced by another intact aircraft of the same model.
Regarding the airport cleaning traces: Figure 1 (taken on June 2-3) outlines the destroyed Tu-95 bomber with a square, its wings fell off due to the explosion of an FPV drone. Figure 2 (taken on June 4): It looks brand new. Either some "magic" happened, or they dragged it away.
This operation is easy to implement: just mark the positions of landing gear and wings on the ground, tow away the damaged aircraft, then drag the replacement aircraft to the marked location. The fire marks and debris have also been cleaned up. But evidently, they didn't have time to cover up the completely burned-out Tu-95 bomber in the image. Therefore, when analyzing satellite images to assess strike effects, one must consider the possibility of such operations by the Russians. The longer the time since the attack, the higher the probability of falsification. We must not forget that satellite photos can only show external severe damage to the aircraft (such as missing fuselage components).
The article claims that even minor damage can render an aircraft permanently unusable if it hits a critical area. A typical case is when Ukrainian ATACMS missiles struck a Russian helicopter base; although the helicopters were completely destroyed, they still maintained their complete appearance, looking "intact" from space. This time, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites provided an additional perspective, imaging through radar signal emissions.
The article believes that besides physically covering up the losses, Russia has launched misinformation campaigns to downplay the importance of Ukrainian actions. When it comes to one-third of Russia's nuclear triad air power disappearing, this is no small feat. Initially, they tried to make domestic citizens believe that only some of the damaged aircraft were flight-capable, while others were mere "shells" used for parts dismantling. But the fact is that Ukrainian drones targeted operational bombers - the intense explosion caused by hitting full fuel tanks proves it, no one would refuel "scrap metal" aircraft. The article argues that additionally, the strikes on bombers were selective. Satellite images show that Ukrainian forces did not adopt a simple "continuous unit-by-unit strike" approach but precisely hit specific targets. Considering the level of preparation for this operation, this is not surprising.
The article states that finally, the Russian propaganda agency has only one traditional excuse left to sell to the public: "We don't need these planes anyway." For many years prior, they had portrayed Russian strategic bombers as "unique" weapons and celebrated every mission where these bombers launched Kh-555, Kh-101, Kh-22, Kh-32 cruise missiles against Ukraine. Now, they have not only lost the ability to launch these strikes but also tasted revenge - something Ukraine previously found difficult to achieve.
Source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1834009462603840/
Disclaimer: The article represents the views of the author alone.