November 23, 2024:
Recent Ukrainian drone strikes in northern Russia, near the Arctic Circle, came as a surprise to the Russians because the targets were 1,800 kilometers from Ukraine. The main target is Olenya air base where Tu-95, Tu-160, and Tu-22 bombers are based. From there, these bombers fly south and launch missiles against targets in Ukraine. Russia has not got many operational bombers at Olenya and each one damaged or destroyed on the ground means fewer missiles hitting Ukrainian targets. Currently the Russians are firing missiles at cities rather than smaller military targets. The military targets are heavily defended and few missiles get through. The cities are larger targets and less well protected. While this causes casualties and makes civilians homeless, it angers Ukrainians, just as similar Nazi attacks against London 84 years ago did with the British.
The Russians regularly underestimate the Ukrainians and these attacks on airfields so far from Ukraine are another example of that. The Russian government claims that attacks were carried out by NATO or American forces. Only a few Russians, and some nearby Norwegians, witness these attacks and know the attackers are Ukrainian drones. . Western TV and internet based media report on these attacks with videos and interviews of eyewitnesses. Any Russian that looks closely enough at this evidence knows the truth, but to repeat that information is a crime that can get you imprisoned.
Ukraine won’t reveal how it is carrying out these attacks, which requires drones traveling that far with great accuracy against small targets. Ukraine carries out seemingly impossible tasks. It is likely that the U.S. supplies Ukraine with satellite photos of the targets and Ukraine has American Starlink terminals which can be operated in vehicles, ships and aircraft. Cameras in the long-range drones enable the operators in Ukraine to see what is on the ground and hit targets with great precision.
Russia is concerned about the frequency and accuracy of these attacks on their Arctic Circle bases. One of those bases is a storage site for nuclear weapons. This did not prevent the Russian Navy from conducting their Ocean-2024 military exercises in the polar region as well as the Baltic Sea and the Russian Far East Pacific Ocean ports. Nothing happened in the Black Sea, where Ukrainian air and naval drones had destroyed most of the Black Sea Fleet, with the remnants hiding in distant Black Sea ports throughout the northeastern Sea of Azov branch.