Humiliated Putin manages to lose almost £150M worth of warplanes despite ramping up security

The Ukrainian military says it has struck four warplanes worth a combined total of around £150 million at an air base more than 500 miles deep into Russia.

Vladimir Putin is over three years into his 'special military operation' that was supposed to last three days, with his invasion of Ukraine getting bogged down and frustrated by the Ukrainians defending their country.

Russia has the advantage in manpower and material, but Ukraine has proved time and time again it can hurt the Russian war machine and hit some of their most expensive hardware.

Ukraine recently pulled off something they called Operation Spider's Web in which drones were smuggled into Russia and activated, with them flying over airbases and destroying Russian warplanes as they sat on the tarmac.

That attack took out around one third of Russia's strategic cruise missile carriers, causing around £5 billion worth of damage, and now they've had another successful strike.

Four Su-34 bombers out of action is good news for Ukraine, those planes are expensive (Russian Defense Ministry/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Putin's air force suffered another blow from drone strikes as the Ukrainians say they've hit four Su-34 aircraft with long-range drones.

"According to preliminary information, four aircraft were hit, specifically Su-34 planes, as well as technical-operational facilities where different warplanes are serviced and repaired," the Ukrainian military said of the strike.

The strike took place at the Marinovka air base, which is located near the city of Volgograd, and destroyed two of the warplanes while damaging two more.

According to The Guardian, the Ukrainian military says the Su-34 is the main aircraft the Russians use on bombing raids in Ukraine.

Having four of them no longer able to take to the skies will be a welcome development to Ukraine and its people, then.

If the Russians entered this war (which they still won't call a war) under the rather childish delusion that they were going to bomb Ukraine, and Ukraine wasn't going to bomb them back, then they have been shown how wrong they were.

Ukraine has also claimed it hit an airfield in the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula, with their drones destroying three attack helicopters and an anti-aircraft missile system.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has also said that Russian drone strikes in Odesa have killed two people, a married couple, and injured at least 17 more.

According to a UN report published earlier this month, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has killed over 13,300 civilians and wounded a further 34,700 more.

More than three years on from the Russian invasion, the war shows no signs of coming to an end soon, so the death toll is sadly likely to rise.