Russian President Vladimir Putin(Image: ANDREY GORSHKOV/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)
Vladimir Putin dispatched nuclear bombers to menace northern Britain during a lengthy Christmas flight over the Norwegian Sea.
NATO was compelled to deploy warplanes to track the massive Russian “Bears”. Su-33 fighter jets accompanied the long-range bombers on what seemed a calculated attempt to provoke the West near Santa’s traditional route from the North Pole.
“Tu-95MS long-range bombers of the Russian Aerospace Forces made a scheduled flight in the airspace over the neutral waters of the Barents Sea and the Norwegian Sea,” Moscow’s defence ministry announced. “The flight duration was more than seven hours.
“At certain stages of the route, long-range bombers were escorted by fighter jets of foreign countries,” the Russian statement revealed, though it failed to specify which NATO air forces had intercepted the Tu-95MS aircraft.
The Norwegian Sea sits northeast of Scotland, positioned between Norway and Iceland. These aircraft – dubbed “Bears” – took their maiden flights in the 1950s yet remain a cornerstone of Putin’s nuclear arsenal, reports the Mirror.
The exceptionally loud Tupolevs stand as the globe’s sole propeller-driven strategic bombers.
These same aircraft have been deployed to unleash devastating conventional missile attacks, causing widespread casualties and destruction across Ukraine. Just this month, NATO fighter jets were deployed following one of the most brutal missile barrages on Ukraine by Putin’s military.
Ukraine endured a devastating assault involving 51 missiles and 653 strike drones targeting civilian infrastructure, plunging the nation into darkness and cold as temperatures plummeted to freezing and below.
A major thermal power plant in Kryvyi Rih – President Volodymyr Zelensky’s hometown – took a direct strike.
Ukrainian air defences managed to intercept 585 drones, 29 cruise missiles and one ballistic missile, but the sheer magnitude of the bombardment – which deployed Tu-95MS and Tu-160MS strategic bombers – prompted NATO member Poland to deploy fighter jets.
“Due to the activity of long-range Russian air forces carrying out strikes on Ukrainian territory, military aviation has begun operating in Polish airspace,” a statement confirmed.
“The Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces has activated the necessary forces and resources at its disposal.”
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