Ukraine's drone strike dents Russian nuclear defense plans
Kyiv struck a key element of Russia's nuclear triad on Sunday, prompting expectations of retaliation, noted Marcin Ogdowski, a journalist for "Polska Zbrojna," as well as a writer and war correspondent, in a conversation with PAP.
On Sunday, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that an operation by Ukraine's Security Service (SBU), involving 117 drones, destroyed or damaged 34 percent of Russian strategic bombers.
The Ukrainian army targeted a component of the Russian nuclear triad. Following this attack, Russia's deterrence capability remains intact, but it has lost some of the comfort it enjoyed just a few days ago, observed the journalist from "Polska Zbrojna."
According to Ogdowski, the Kremlin is likely to seek a military response to the Ukrainians' action on Sunday. - It's too painful a blow to leave it without a reaction. Putin needs to demonstrate to his own society and global public opinion that he is responding to such a daring attack on a nuclear superpower, the expert said.
As the writer noted, the Ukrainians exercised some restraint in Sunday’s attack on Russian aviation. - They did not destroy, for example, any Tu-160 aircraft; they targeted specific types of machines like Tu-95 and Tu-22M bombers, which typically participate in raids on Ukraine, Ogdowski said.
According to him, this was deliberate: the aim was to inflict significant losses on the Russians but not to the extent that would provoke an extreme response.
The expert also mentioned information recently published by Western media about a base near the town of Yasny in the Orenburg region, close to the border with Kazakhstan. He noted that the leaked data makes the Russian base vulnerable to attack.
He emphasized that the base in Yasny is crucial from a Russian defense perspective; intercontinental missiles are launched from there, and the latest Russian nuclear warhead carriers are also stored at this location.
- Currently, nuclear weapons are the only military asset that maintains Russia's superpower status, noted Ogdowski.
"Ukrainian special services are very active"
As the journalist added, the leakage of a large amount of classified information suggests a compromise within Russian counterintelligence. - This compromise is even more significant because it concerns a country with very extensive special services, previously renowned for their exceptional effectiveness, said Ogdowski.
- Sunday's attack proves that Ukrainian special services are operating very actively within Russia and are capable of meeting complex challenges. This includes planning and executing an effective strike on a strategically significant facility, assessed the expert.
- In light of this, I wouldn't be surprised if Kiyv possessed very detailed information about the security measures at other key Russian nuclear facilities, added the PAP interlocutor.
