Russia uses Tu-160 strategic bombers, which Ukraine gave it 25 years ago – “Schemes”

The Russian army uses Ukrainian strategic bombers, which the official Kyiv transferred to Moscow within the framework of the agreement between the governments of the two countries in 1999 in exchange for repayment of debts for the consumed Russian gas. This was found out by the journalists of “Schem” (Radio Liberty) using the analysis of the serial numbers of the aircraft in the agreement of those times, which was searched in the archive, data from international air registers and comparison with the numbers of bombers used by the Russian Federation, which was recorded by the Main Intelligence Directorate.

At least six of the transferred Tu-160 aircraft are in active service with the Russian army. The journalists also identified Russian pilots who were appointed in the Russian Federation to control the transferred Ukrainian bombers, and who are now called by Ukrainian intelligence to be involved in massive missile attacks on Ukraine.

In total, Schemy identified ten Ukrainian strategic aircraft transferred by Ukraine to Russia.

This is the Tu-160, which was given new names in the Russian Federation: “Mykola Kuznetsov” (previously it was a Ukrainian plane with the serial number “10”), “Vasyl Senko” (“11”), “Olexandr Novikov” (“12”), “Volodymyr Sudets” (“15”), “Aleksii Plokhov” (“16”), “Andriy Tupolev” (“18”), “Ihor Sikorskyi” (“22”).

Among them, at least six boards are currently in combat formation of the Russian army. The journalists found the aircraft numbers in the archival agreement between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, analyzed them with the help of the international air registry and compared them with the numbers of the bombers, which, according to the GUR, are used by the Russian army.

Among the “Schemes” planes handed over by the Ukrainian authorities, three Tu-95MS were also discovered: they are “Krasnoyarsk”, “Sevastopol”, “Izborsk” – these are the new names Ukrainian bombers received in Russia.

Journalists found videos and photos of former Ukrainian bombers in open sources: stories on Russian television, publications and social networks.

In particular, against the background of the plane, which in Ukraine had the serial number “10” and in Russia was named “Mykola Kuznetsov”, the commander of the Russian long-range aviation Serhiy Kobylash, who was informed in absentia in 2024 by the Ukrainian investigation of the suspicion of being in command, previously gave an interview hit on “Okhmatdyt”.

The journalists also identified Russian pilots of former Ukrainian bombers.

One of them is Oleg Skytskyi, he piloted the plane, which in Ukraine had the serial number “11” and in the Russian Federation was named “Vasyl Senko”. According to the investigation, Skitskyi is a serviceman of the 22nd Aviation Division, which the GUR calls “responsible for numerous victims and destruction in Ukraine” due to the missiles launched by them.

Previously, “Schemes” identified him as the commander of the 121st heavy bomber aviation regiment in this division, who probably led the attack on Kyiv on April 28, 2022, when Radio Liberty journalist Vira Hyrych was killed when a rocket hit a house.

Military serviceman Oleksiy Pechkaryev was previously identified as the commander of the Tu-95MS “Izborsk” aircraft, which was handed over to the Russian Federation by the Ukrainian authorities. During the full-scale invasion, he is the head of the combat training department of the 22nd Air Division. In the summer of 2022, at one of the actions in support of the so-called SVO, he said that Russian “soldiers on the ground and in the air are crushing revived Nazism,” according to the investigation.

“Schemes” searched the archive for an agreement between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine headed by Valery Pustovoytenko and the Russian government under the leadership of Vladimir Putin, signed in Yalta in 1999. According to it, Kyiv transferred to Moscow eight Tu-160 heavy bombers and three Tu-95MS, as well as 575 Kh-55 cruise missiles. For this, Russia compensated Ukraine for the debt for Russian gas – in the amount of 275 million dollars. This is the determined cost of the transferred equipment.

In the investigation, the journalists said that the transfer of planes and missiles took place without the approval of the Verkhovna Rada.

In addition, the cost of the weapons was understated by ten times – this is stated in the conclusions of the Temporary Investigative Commission of the Verkhovna Rada to conduct an investigation into the facts of embezzlement in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the undermining of the state’s defense capabilities in the period from 2004 to 2017.

In a comment to “Schemes”, the former president of Ukraine, Leonid Kuchma, noted that even if strategic bombers remained in service with Ukraine, it would not significantly help in defense against the Russian Federation.

“Russia has air defense assets capable of countering X-55-class missiles, while the enormous size and relatively low-speed bombers in the early days of the war would have been easy prey for Russian weapons both in the air and on airfields.

Strategic weapons could hardly help in solving the strategic tasks of Ukraine, and they definitely did not fit into the Ukrainian scale. We did not have test sites for rockets. We didn’t even have sufficient territorial extent for the exploitation of these means – after all, strategic weapons need strategic space”? Kuchma wrote.

In the first part of the series of investigations, “Schemes” found evidence that the Russian army is shelling Ukrainian cities with Kh-55 cruise missiles handed over in 1999.