Devoured by flames, a Tupolev Tu-22 supersonic bomber slowly burns to the ground. Images of the moment quickly made the rounds across Western media. A few hours earlier, Ukrainian drones had struck Russia's military air base at Soltsy-2, near the Estonian border, on August 19, 2023. It's the launching pad for Russia's Tu-22M bombers toward Ukraine.
Degrading Russia's military capabilities is not Kyiv's only objective at this stage of the war. For several months now, Ukraine has also been targeting Moscow. With the help of verified, geolocated videos, Le Monde found that the Russian capital was hit almost a dozen times between May and September 2023 by drone attacks. It's Kyiv's way of bringing the war in Ukraine, to the heart of Russia.
Translation of an original article published in French on lemonde.fr; the publisher may only be liable for the French version.