Russian strategic bombers fly over Britain on Christmas Day, NATO deploys fighter jets
On Christmas Day, NATO countries scrambled fighter jets to monitor the flight of Russian Tu 95MS strategic bombers flying over neutral waters in the Barents and Norwegian Seas near the northern borders of the United Kingdom. The Mirror writes about this, citing a statement from the Russian Ministry of Defence, which confirmed the mission and the interception by NATO aircraft.
Moscow said the flight was planned and lasted more than 7 hours. At the same time, the Russian ministry acknowledged that the bombers were accompanied by foreign fighters on some parts of the route. It was not specified which NATO countries took part in the interception.
The Tu-95MS, known by the codename Bear, is a key element of Russia's nuclear triad. They are the world's only strategic bombers with turboprop engines, developed in the 1950s but modernised to carry long-range cruise missiles.
The same aircraft are actively used by Russia for massive missile strikes against Ukraine. In early December, one of the most powerful combined attacks was carried out from Tu 95MS and Tu 160MS bombers. At that time, Russia fired 51 missiles and 653 attack drones at civilian and energy infrastructure.
According to the Ukrainian side, air defence forces managed to shoot down 585 drones, 29 cruise missiles and one ballistic missile. The strikes caused power and heating outages at temperatures below freezing, and a large thermal power plant in Kryvyi Rih was directly hit.
As Russian long-range aviation was active, the Polish Air Force also raised fighters. The operational command of the country's Armed Forces stated that all necessary forces were deployed to protect the airspace.
Photo: The Mirror
