Ukrainian military drones launched early Sunday from concealed locations within Russian territory struck air bases throughout the country as far away as Irkutsk. The drones targeted Russian aircraft, including strategic bombers of the kind used to deploy cruise missiles and some that are part of Russia’s nuclear triad.
The attack was acknowledged by Ukraine’s domestic security agency, the SBU, which claimed that 117 drones targeted four Russian bases and damaged 41 aircraft. The operation, codenamed “Spider’s Web,” is one of the largest and most complicated of the war. Ukrainian agents drove trucks loaded with drones hidden inside cargo containers with false roofs to various locations throughout Russia. After the agents deposited the containers and departed, the roofs were opened remotely and the drones deployed to attack Russian air assets nearby.
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Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky praised the operation in a thread on X:
Today, a brilliant operation was carried out — on enemy territory, targeting only military objectives, specifically the equipment used to strike Ukraine. Russia suffered significant losses — entirely justified and deserved. The preparation took over a year and a half. Planning, organisation, every detail was perfectly executed. It can be said with confidence that this was an absolutely unique operation.
The attack comes while Ukraine and Russia are in the process of conducting peace talks in Istanbul, an effort championed by President Donald Trump but which has been slow to yield significant results. That process could now be in jeopardy, although Zelensky posted in his thread that Ukraine will continue to “try to achieve at least some progress on the path toward peace.” Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has not commented on the attack.
