Russia is gradually losing its Tu-95 long-range heavy bombers, which play a key role in missile strikes against Ukraine.

Axar.az reports, citing National Interest, that Russian aerospace company Tupolev built the first Tu-95 in 1952, and began series production in 1956. It built more than 500 of the bombers.

Tupolev paused production in the 1960s or ‘70s, and resumed in 1981 to manufacture the modernized Tu-95MS missile-carrier variant. The company stopped production completely in 1992.

Before it launched its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia maintained a fleet of approximately 58 Tu-95MS bombers.

Ukraine has destroyed at least eight Tu-95MS bombers, and damaged three others, according to Oryx, a site that documents war losses based on photographic evidence. The losses represent about 18 percent of Russia’s pre-war fleet.

Ukraine destroyed eight bombers in Operation Spiderweb in June 2025.

Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) used drones to specifically target the strategic bombers that were at the Engels Air Base in Russia’s Saratov region in July.