Ukraine Hacks Tupolev, Exposes Russia’s Strategic Bomber Secrets

The cyber unit of Ukraine’s Military Intelligence (HUR) has carried out a large-scale operation targeting Russia’s aviation giant – the United Aircraft Company (UAC) Tupolev division, successor to the Soviet-era Tupolev Design Bureau – a key developer of strategic bombers for the Russian military.

A source within the intelligence community told Kyiv Post on Wednesday, June 4, that as a result of the breach, Ukrainian operatives obtained more than 4.4 gigabytes of highly classified internal data with strategic significance.

The stolen files include internal communications among company leadership, personal data of Tupolev staff, home addresses, resumes of engineers and designers, procurement records, and protocols from closed-door meetings.

“The value of the data obtained is hard to overstate. There is now virtually nothing secret left in Tupolev’s operations as far as Ukrainian intelligence is concerned,” the source said.

“We now have comprehensive information on individuals directly involved in maintaining Russia’s strategic aviation. The effects of this operation will be felt both on the ground and in the skies.”

According to the source, HUR’s cyber division had been silently tracking the company’s internal document flow in real time for an extended period. This not only exposed key internal processes but also allowed Ukrainian operatives to gather evidence that could be used in future pinpoint operations against Russia’s defense-industrial complex.

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As a symbolic finale to the operation, Ukrainian cyber specialists hacked Tupolev’s official website and replaced its main page with an image of an owl clutching a Russian aircraft in its talons.

Since 2022, Tupolev – a producer of Russia’s strategic bombers – has been under international sanctions for its direct role in supporting Moscow’s full-scale war against Ukraine.

HUR has been systematically conducting cyber operations against Russia’s military-industrial complex. In recent months, HUR cyber units have repeatedly breached databases of key enterprises involved in strategic aviation, weapons production, and military logistics.