The rare photo below depicts a takeoff of two Tupolev Tu-22M3 bombers (NATO reporting name: Backfire) from the military airfield in Poltava. An unknown photographer caught the moment when the bombers had just taken off from the airbase and were flying over the St. Sampsoniy Church on the field of the Battle of Poltava.
From 1945, the Poltava airbase was used by the 13th Heavy Bomber Aviation Division of Soviet Long-Range Aviation. From 1991 to 1992 the Soviet Air Force was superseded in Ukraine by the Ukrainian Air Force, which eventually deployed the Tu-22M3 heavy bombers and cruise missiles X-22 with the 185th Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment before this unit was finally disbanded in 2006.
Ukraine has destroyed decommissioned Tu-22M heavy bombers and air-to-ground cruise missiles of the X-22 class in order to meet its obligations under the 1993 agreement with the United States on strategic nuclear disarmament.
Separation of a Tupolev Tu-22M3 heavy bomber's nose
According to the agreement thirty-one Tu-22M bombers and 225 cruise missiles X-22 were scrapped in Ukraine by the end of 2004 in keeping with the U.S.-financed disarmament program.
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