Second moment of Putin’s Tu-95 nuclear bombers ‘being blown up in Ukrainian drone attack on highly secure Russian airbase’

TWO of Vladimir Putin’s Tu-95 nuclear bombers were reportedly blown up in a suspected Ukrainian drone attack on a Russian high-security airfield.

Shocking footage showed a huge flash at Engels Air Force Base in the Saratov Region of Russia after the apparent strike early in the morning.

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Two Tu-95s – known as Bears – were reportedly destroyed in the blast.

The bombers have been used to blow up targets in Ukraine with non-nuclear weapons, particularly in recent weeks as Putin continued bombing the country’s infrastructure.

Two Russian soldiers were injured and hospitalized after the alleged Ukrainian attack, reports Visegrád 24.

Traffic is said to have ground to a halt near the airfield on Monday as emergency services responded to the attack.

The airbase was reportedly on high alert for a new round of attacks on Ukraine.

The Tu-95s first flew 70 years ago, and Putin previously used the bombers to bombard Britain amid rising tensions in the Ukraine war.

In February, the Royal Air Force used Typhoon fighter jets to escort two bears off northern Scotland.

Two Tu-95 strategic bombers were escorted by two Tu-142 Bear F maritime patrol and anti-submarine aircraft.

In another unconfirmed attack on Monday, a fuel truck blew up at an airbase near Ryazan — a base of Russian special forces — killing three people and injuring five.

A resident of the city said: “Everything in my house has been thrown off the shelves. I thought the windows would fly out. We live not far from the starting zone.”

Another said: “The blast broke the latch on the window and ripped it open. A column of smoke and sparks could be seen.

“The explosion was a single, powerful one. There was no precise sound of anything falling before the explosion.

“It looks like a tank explosion to me.”

The apparent drone strike also reportedly damaged an aircraft at the base.

A report by Readovka warned that Moscow could be attacked if the strike came from Ukraine.

It said: “If the drone came from Ukraine, then our enemy already has technology with a range of 1000 km, which means Moscow could be attacked.

“There is only one conclusion: counter-terrorism measures on the territory of the Russian Federation should be strengthened as much as possible, retaliatory strikes should continue tenfold.

“Until the Russian response has a massive impact, such attacks will continue.”

But Saratov Region Governor Roman Busargin said there was “no reason to worry”.

He said: “Information of a loud explosion and eruption at Engels in the early hours of the morning is spreading on social media and the media.

“I want to assure you that there have been no emergencies in the city’s residential areas.

“There is no need to worry. No civilian infrastructure was damaged.”

In October, satellite images showed an “irregular presence” of Russian Tu-160 and Tu-95 bombers at Olenya air base near the border with Finland.

It comes after four Tu-95 bombers and two Chinese H-6K bombers staged a show of force in the West last week.

The South Korean military was forced to launch fighter jets after six Russian and two Chinese fighter planes flew into its air defense zone without notice.

Seoul said China’s H-6K bombers repeatedly entered and exited the Korean air defense identification zone near South Korea’s south and northeast coasts early Wednesday.

Hours later, they returned to the zone from the Baltic Sea with Russian fighter jets – including two Su-35 fighter jets and four Tu-95 bombers.