Between 1:45 a.m. and 2:15 a.m. UTC on December 23, 2025, the єРадар Telegram channel reported the departure of three Tu-95MS strategic bombers from Engels airfield in Russia, bringing the total number of Russian strategic aircraft in the air to eight Tu-95MS and two Tu-160s. This update follows єРадар's earlier report between 1:15 a.m. and 1:45 a.m. UTC of seven strategic aircraft aloft, including five Tu-95MS—three from Russia's Far East and two from Olenya airfield—and two Tu-160s from the Far East, amid expectations of additional departures from Engels. The increased air activity occurs alongside two Russian missile carriers deployed to the Black Sea with up to 16 Kalibr cruise missiles, as reported by the monitor Telegram channel in the prior period, and recent detections of Shahed drones over Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolayiv, and Kherson regions.
