June 3 (Reuters) - Satellite imagery of a Russian air base taken shortly after Ukraine carried out a drone attack deep inside Russia over the weekend shows several strategic bombers were destroyed and badly damaged, according to three open source analysts.
Ukraine targeted at least four air bases across Russia using 117 unmanned aerial vehicles launched from containers close to the targets. Drone footage of the operation verified by Reuters shows several aircraft were struck in at least two locations.
Capella Space, a satellite company, supplied Reuters with an image of one of those airfields, located in the Siberian region of Irkutsk. The image was taken on June 2, the day after one of the most complex and effective operations launched by Ukraine in more than three years of war.
Cloud cover can obscure conventional satellite pictures, but the data is from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites which direct energy beams at the Earth and detect echoes, making it possible to identify small topographical details.
The image - more grainy than conventional high-resolution photographs and in black and white - appears to show the debris of several aircraft located along the runway of the Belaya military air base or parked in protective revetments nearby.
