A military expert called the Russian Tu-160M a "flying killer"

The Russian Tu-160M bomber is a "flying killer". This was stated by retired Colonel Anatoly Matviychuk, a former special forces officer, in an interview with Izvestia on April 28.

The American magazine The National Interest published an article about the Russian Tu-160M bomber. The article said that Ukraine does not have effective means to counter the Russian missile carrier.

Matviychuk recalled that the Tu-160 is a development of the Soviet aviation industry. The bomber was originally designed for Russia's nuclear deterrence due to the potential threat from the NATO bloc. According to him, after the collapse of the USSR, the development lost its importance. In recent decades, after the outbreak of hostilities in Syria and then in Ukraine, it began to modernize.

"This is a missile carrier that carries quite powerful cruise missiles. What is its advantage over Ukraine? There are no air defense systems in Ukraine that you can get this bomber. He just doesn't enter the air defense zone. It is so autonomous and so electronically written that it launches its cruise missiles without going into the air defense zone, and thus no one and nothing can harm it. It's such a flying killer that destroys superbly important enemy targets," the military expert said.

Matviychuk added that it is difficult to hit the Tu-160 due to the fact that it never performs combat missions on its own.

"He is covered by a whole flight, or even several fighter planes, which will ensure his bombing and launching cruise missiles. So if the enemy tries to get to it, there will be an air battle, and it is unlikely that they will be able to make a targeted strike on this missile carrier," said the former special forces officer.

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On March 11, Yuri Ignat, head of the Communications Department of the Ukrainian Air Force Command, said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces could not effectively counter Russian Su-35 fighters, even with the supply of American F-16s. According to him, an integrated approach involving ground-based air defense systems and electronic warfare systems may be required to counter Kiev.