Russia loses about a third of its strategic bombers in Ukraine attack

 AP:

Ukraine said over 40 bombers, or about a third of Russia’s strategic bomber fleet, were damaged or destroyed Sunday, although Moscow said only several planes were struck. The conflicting claims couldn’t be independently verified and video of the assault posted on social media showed only a couple of bombers hit.

But the bold attack demonstrated Ukraine’s capability to hit high-value targets anywhere in Russia, dealing a humiliating blow to the Kremlin and inflicting significant losses to Moscow’s war machine.

While some Russian military bloggers compared it to another infamous Sunday surprise attack — that of Japan’s strike on the U.S. base at Pearl Harbor in 1941 — others rejected the analogy, arguing the actual damage was far less significant than Ukraine claimed.
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Russia lost a significant part of its heavy bomber fleet in the attack “with no immediate ability to replace it,” said Douglas Barrie of the International Institute of Strategic Studies, noting that Moscow’s announced plan to develop the next generation strategic bomber is still in its early phase.
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The attack demonstrated that Russia is vulnerable to strategic attacks by drones.  That is the real importance of the attacks.  Russia's defense is likely based on stopping much larger aircraft that can be picked up on radar.  It does not appear that Russian radar can spot drones at this stage.  In this case, it was actually a swarm of drones that did the damage.