Russia’s long-range bombers are still assailing Ukraine at a steady pace despite June’s daring drone attack against the fleet, the UK’s defense ministry said in a recent assessment.
In an intelligence update on Wednesday, the British ministry wrote that it had observed seven long-range attack packages launched against Ukraine in July, involving at least 70 “premier munitions” — powerful cruise missiles.
“Russian Long Range Aviation bombers have maintained their offensive tempo, continuing to demonstrate the resilience and retained capability of the fleet following Ukraine’s Operation Spiderweb on June 1, 2025,” the ministry wrote.
The assessment comes six weeks after Ukraine launched a surprise drone attack on four airbases deep inside Russia that housed the Kremlin’s strategic bombers and early warning aircraft.
Using first-person-view drones transported via truck, Ukraine damaged what it said was at least a third of Russia’s bomber fleet.
Dubbed Operation Spiderweb, the attack was hailed as one of the starkest examples of how asymmetric warfare can endanger high-level military assets like the $150 million Tu-95MS bomber. Ukrainian officials have said that the attack inflicted $7 billion worth of damage.
Before the attack, Russia was believed to field roughly 67 strategic bombers in its active inventory, and videos released by Ukraine show that at least nine of them were heavily damaged in Operation Spiderweb. Ukraine reported that the attack damaged or destroyed at least 41 total aircraft, but independent analysts have said it’s difficult to affirm that claim.
Satellite image (c) 2025 Maxar Technologies via Getty Images.
Crucially, these aircraft can’t be easily replaced. Russia is believed to have ceased production of the Tu-95 and Tu-22M, and while it’s still making the newer Tu-160, only two have been reported manufactured in the last three years. Notably, long-range bombers are also one of the three key pillars of Russia’s nuclear triad.
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Still, Russia has continued to bombard Ukraine after the June attack with a combination of one-way attack drones and missiles.
Russia typically relies on its strategic bombers to fire cruise missiles, most commonly munitions from the Kh air-to-surface missile family.
After Operation Spiderweb, one of Russia’s biggest strategic bomber attacks unfolded on June 6, when Ukraine reported that Moscow launched at least 36 Kh-101 cruise missiles in one night.
Ukrainian media, however, at the time cited unnamed sources saying that Russian forces had to compensate for a reduced fleet during the attack by loading each bomber to full capacity.
Either way, Russia has continued using its bomber fleet in high-profile attacks. On July 12, Ukraine’s air force reported another wave of 26 Kh-101 cruise missiles fired into Ukrainian airspace.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that in July alone, Russia had fired over 3,800 Shahed explosive drones and 260 missiles. However, he did not specify which of the latter were launched by strategic bombers.
