Russia tries to downplay scale of strategic aviation losses after SSU’s ’Pavutyna’ operation. SATELLITE IMAGES

Russia is attempting to downplay the scale of its strategic aircraft losses following Ukraine’s SSU-led "Pavutyna" (Spider's web) operation, during which 41 planes were reportedly hit.

This was reported by Censor.NET, citing sources from the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) in comments to Suspilne.

According to the report, instead of revealing the destroyed aircraft, Russia is bringing in undamaged planes to the affected airbases — aiming to conceal the damage on satellite imagery.

Additionally, OSINT analysts on June 2 identified a burnt-out Tu-95 strategic bomber on satellite images from one of the targeted airfields. However, on updated imagery from June 4, the same spot shows an intact aircraft.

"They positioned it exactly where the damaged plane had been. But the scorched runway beneath it is still visible," the analysts noted, sharing the satellite photos of the airbases.