Russia covers nuclear bombers with tyres

Russian forces have covered nuclear bomber jets in tyres in an apparent bid to defend them from Ukrainian drone attacks.

Satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies appears to show dozens of car tyres placed on the wings and fuselages of two Tu-95 strategic bombers at the Engels airbase near Saratov in Russia more than 400 miles from the front line in Ukraine.

Experts have speculated the tyres could be used to protect the aircraft from Ukrainian drones and also reduce their visibility during nighttime raids.

“We believe it’s meant to protect against drones,” a Nato official told CNN. “We don’t know if this will have any effect.”

Francisco Serra-Martins, of One Way Aerospace, which manufactures drones used by Ukraine, said: “It may reduce the thermal signature for exposed strategic aviation assets placed on airfield aprons, but they will still be observable under infrared cameras.”

Ukraine has become increasingly bold with its long-range attacks on military targets inside Russia to curtail Vladimir Putin’s war machine.

Last week, Kyiv’s forces targeted six Russian regions, including Moscow, in its largest drone assault since the start of the invasion.

Ukraine’s military intelligence, in a rare admission, confirmed it was behind the attack on an airfield in Pskov, near Russia’s border with Estonia, that destroyed two Il-76 transporter planes and damaged two more.

Kyiv also claims to have damaged Su-30 fighter jets, one MiG-29 and various equipment based in Russia using drones made of cardboard.

Russia has deployed increasingly creative, and sometimes questionable, efforts to defend strategic targets, such as bridges, from attacks by Ukrainian forces.

It was recently reported that Moscow’s forces had sunk ferries around the Kerch Bridge, linking occupied Crimea and the Russian mainland, to prevent it from being hit by Ukraine’s fleet of sea drones.

Russia has also launched military balloons with radar reflectors to exhaust Ukraine’s air defences over Kyiv.