Drone strikes halt traffic on Siberian highway R-255 near Belaya airbase
The Federal Highway R-255 "Siberia" has been blocked in the aftermath of yesterday's drone attacks in the settlement of Sredny in the Irkutsk region, according to regional news outlet IrCity.
As indicated by the Yandex traffic service, movement near the settlement, which is close to the Belaya airbase, targeted a day earlier, is clogged over a stretch of approximately 10 kilometers. Eyewitnesses report the road closure to trucks heading towards Irkutsk. A video filmed from a car window was shared by the Ukrainian Telegram channel Exilenova+. "They blocked the road near Sredny, we were driving practically through fields, now back on asphalt, all the trucks are being stopped," a woman tells. "It seems Lenin Street has never seen such a flow of cars, trucks, and buses. Everything's moving inch by inch," narrated an IrCity correspondent.
According to the news outlet, quoting the first deputy governor of the Irkutsk region, Roman Kolesov, travel restrictions on the federal highway have been imposed by federal authorities. Information on when the road will reopen remains unavailable. The Federal Highway R-255 "Siberia" in the Sredny district of Usolsky district is currently off-limits to all types of vehicles.
On June 1, Ukraine launched its largest operation of the war to attack Russian airbases—an operation dubbed "Spider web" which Ukrainian media reports say was 18 months in the making and aimed at the strategic aviation launching missiles at Ukrainian cities.
The drones were launched from the back of a heavy truck supposedly delivering prefab houses. The attacks targeted five Russian strategic aviation bases, but successful hits have only been confirmed at two bases. American geospatial intelligence analyst Chris Biggers released satellite images of the Belaya airbase in the Irkutsk region after the attack, provided by Umbra Space. The images show hits on four Tu-95 and four Tu-22M3 aircraft.