Russia using old Ukrainian weapons sent in goodwill on front line

Al Jazeera:

Kyiv, Ukraine – Called the White Swan, the Tu-160 is the world’s heaviest and fastest supersonic bomber.

The Soviet-designed flying fortress can circle half the globe, fly as high as 20km (12.4 miles) above Earth and carry 45 tonnes of bombs – or a dozen Kh-55 nuclear missiles.

Moscow has 16 White Swans and has been using them as trump cards in its renewed confrontation with the West.

In recent years, they have flown over the North Pole to violate US and Canadian airspace, landed in Venezuela and launched cruise missiles at Syria.

Since last March, the White Swans have rained hell on Ukraine.

They take off from an airbase near the Volga River city of Saratov and launch non-nuclear missiles without entering Ukraine’s airspace.

And in what may come as a surprise, half of Russia’s White Swans once belonged to Kyiv – just like hundreds of missiles they can carry.