Russia is gradually losing its Tu-95 strategic bombers, which play a key role in missile strikes against Ukraine. As The National Interest reports, the main problem for Moscow in this situation is that these aircraft are practically irreplaceable.
The Tu-95 was developed by the Tupolev Design Bureau; the first aircraft flew in 1952, and serial production began in 1956. In total, over 500 of these bombers were produced. Production of the upgraded version, the Tu-95MS, resumed in 1981, but was finally discontinued in 1992.
Before the start of the full-scale invasion, Russia had approximately 58 Tu-95MS aircraft. According to Oryx data cited by the author, Ukraine destroyed at least eight of these aircraft and damaged another three. This represents about 18% of the pre-war fleet.
Russian aviation suffered particularly heavy losses during Operation Cobweb in June 2025. Then Ukrainian forces destroyed eight bombers. Subsequently, Ukrainian drones also attacked aircraft at the Engels air base in the Saratov region.
The author notes that restoring the lost Russian fleet will be extremely difficult. Unlike the United States, which maintains a reserve of B-52s and specialized facilities for storing older aircraft, Moscow does not have a similar stock of Tu-95s. In addition, production of these aircraft was discontinued more than three decades ago.
For this reason, the publication considers the destruction of any such aircraft to be a significant event - not only because of their combat value, but also because the losses cannot be quickly compensated.
"The Tu-95s will remain high-value targets, the loss of which Russia cannot afford, since they are simply irreplaceable," the article states. Russian officials have announced plans to repair the damaged bombers. At the same time, the author of the article believes that the complete replacement of the destroyed aircraft is a practically unattainable task for Russia.