A strike drone of the Ukrainian Defense Forces destroyed a Russian Tu-22M3 strategic bomber.

Oleksandr Syrskyi, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, stated this in an interview with LB.ua.

According to the information available to the Commander-in-Chief, the Ukrainian drone was able to hit the Russian Tu-22M3 strategic bomber immediately after it landed at the Shaykovka airbase, located in the Smolensk region of Russia.

The airbase with coordinates 54.228926, 34.374169 is the base of Tu-22M3 strategic bombers of the 52nd Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment of the Russian Federation (military unit 33310), involved in missile strikes on the territory of Ukraine with Kh-22/Kh-32 missiles.

“Several days ago, through our successful actions, we destroyed a long-range bomber Tu-22M3. It had just landed — and our drone hit it. Its value is about $100 million,” Syrskyi shared.

Recently, the CyberBoroshno cyber community published satellite images of this airfield, which showed signs of strikes by Ukrainian drones.

In one of the images, strange remains were spotted, which were classified as a destroyed aircraft or building. The remains are located at the parking area where aircraft are usually based.

Given the satellite images and the statement of the Commander-in-Chief, it can be argued that the Ukrainian Defense Forces managed to destroy the Russian Tu-22M3.

Militarnyi previously reported that strike drones destroyed a depot with Kh-22/32 missiles and a technical facility for their maintenance during an attack on the Shaykovka air base.

Drones attacked the airbase, where the Tu-22M3 strategic bombers are based, at night on March 31, 2025.

The strike damaged the airbase’s infrastructure, primarily destroying the Kh-22/32 missile preparation room, where the missiles were refueled and set up before launch.

It should be noted that Ukrainian long-range drones targeted this air base at least three times — in September 2024, August 2023, and October 2022.