Moscow: On June 1, 2025, Ukrainian special forces released more than 100 drones from covert shipping containers and annihilated 41 Russian strategic bombers across four air bases hours before peace talks began in Istanbul.
The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) carried out an elaborate undercover operation, “Spider’s Web,” against Russian airfields in Belaya, Olenya, Ivanovo, and Dyagilevo. Drones smuggled into Russia and hidden in wooden sheds mounted on trucks were then remotely dispatched to attack its military aircraft, including A-50 planes that are crucial to Russia’s missile campaigns against Ukraine.
The attack was planned over 18 months and struck bases as distant as 4,300 kilometres from Ukraine’s border in what appeared to be Kyiv’s longest-range assault of the war. Russian media compared the scale with Pearl Harbour, and unverified footage displayed burning bombers and heavy smoke.
Russia’s Defence Ministry acknowledged that there had been fires at several aircraft but reported no casualties. The SBU estimated losses at $7 billion, claiming the attack targeted 34% of Russia’s strategic missile carriers.
The president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, celebrated the ”absolutely brilliant result” and said in televised remarks, “Ukraine is defending itself, and it is right since we are doing everything so that Russia wants to end this war.” He added that the nerve centre of the operation had been shamelessly located adjacent to the FSB’s headquarters in Russia.
“Hefty blow,” said a Russian Telegram channel, Rybar, about the Blami intelligence failures “In the meantime, Ukraine announced that Russia had flown 472 drones and seven missiles over its territory the same night, one of the largest barrages of the war.
Its timing, coming on the eve of the Istanbul peace talks, highlights mounting tensions. Ukrainian negotiators, including Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, planned to propose a 30-day truce and a prisoner swap, while Russia has kept its peace terms under wraps.
However, as both sides now travel to Istanbul, the extraordinary nature of the strike has underscored Ukraine’s commitment to eroding the Russian military’s superiority and, quite possibly, reshaping the calculus of talks and the conflict itself.
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