Two days before the SBU special operation "Spider's Web", on May 30, , Russian publishers spread information that the Kremlin was preparing an "unprecedented missile strike" against Ukraine. Russian war correspondents dubbed the upcoming operation "Zeus' Lightning", and it was planned to involve 72 strategic, front-line and transport aircraft. However, as a result of Operation Web, about 40 of them were destroyed or damaged. About this reported [[link_local link_article_id="1691282 "]] Dengi.ua [[/link_local]].
It is noted that to strike Ukraine at the airfields "Olenya" and "Engels" was concentrated a large number of strategic bombers, and one of the goals of the operation of the Russians was to show the West how a potential conflict with Russia will turn out for it.
"Russia has transferred 40 Tu-22M3 bombers to the Olenya airfield. Satellite images confirming this were published by the analytical aviation resource AviVector. Defense Express writes that Russia has only about 60 Tu-22M3 bombers, which makes the concentration of 40 machines in one place - unprecedented," the report said.
In particular, it was reported that for the "Zeus Lightning" for May 30, the Russian Federation transferred to airfields:
«Olenya»:
- 40 of about 60 Tu-22M3 bombers
- 11 Tu-95MS (usually for missile strikes on Ukraine involved 3-4 aircraft)
«Engels»:
- 6 Tu-95MS
- 3 Tu-160
- 4 Su-34 frontline bombers
- 8 IL-76 transports with missiles for firing
"Defense Express paid attention to satellite images of the Engels airfield. There are now six Tu-95MS strategic bombers, three Tu-160s and four Su-34 frontline bombers at the Engels airbase. At the same time, eight flights of transport IL-76 arrived at the Engels airbase in four days - apparently, there are deliveries of missiles for strategic bombers. Such activity has not been observed for three years", - noted the publics.
