On Sunday, the day before representatives of each country met to discuss a peace deal in Istanbul, Ukraine launched a drone blitzkrieg that struck several Russian long-range bombers.
According to U.S. media, the attack, dubbed Operation Spider’s Web, hit several of Russia’s cruise-missile carriers at four airports. Ukraine claims it destroyed 40 of Russia’s more than 100 Tupolev bombers. However, Wall Street Journal intelligence analysts counted only 14 using satellite images and video posted online.
The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that the drones were launched from locations near the airfields. Russian state media organ RT says drones struck five long-range Russian airbases. The bases are located in the northern part of the Murmansk region; the Ivanovo and Ryazan regions in central Russia; the Irkutsk region in Siberia; and the Amur region in the Russian Far East. The ministry said three attacks were fully repelled, and two partially succeeded.
The operation employed 117 small drones launched from containers on trucks that made it deep into Russia. The Journal’s Ukraine Bureau Chief James Marson suspects Ukraine got the weapons into Russia through commercial networks. Russian authorities say they have identified the trucks and are working with the drivers. They also claim that some of the suspects behind the attack have been arrested.
The head of Ukraine’s main security and intelligence agency, the SBU, told the Journal on Monday that the order to destroy the warplanes came directly from President Volodymyr Zelensky. “The enemy bombed our country from these planes almost every night, and today actually felt that ‘payback is inevitable,’” he said.
The Americans were supposedly in the dark about this latest attack, and didn’t know it was going to happen. Marson said that since the attack didn’t include U.S.-made drones, there was no need to tell U.S. officials anything.
A couple of weeks ago, Ukraine launched nonstop drone attacks for nearly a week. And when the Russians responded, they did so with devastating impact across several regions. That included Kiev, where civilians were killed. The stated idea behind Ukraine’s attack Sunday was to take out the kind of aircraft Russians use in devastating attacks such as that. The bombers are also the kind that could be used to deliver nuclear missiles.
The Russians say this the second attack inside the motherland in as many days. The day before, two bridges in Russia collapsed thanks to an act of sabotage. RT reports:
In Bryansk Region, an overpass fell onto a rail line, killing seven and injuring at least 69, according to the governor. Hours later, on Sunday, a railway bridge in Kursk Region gave way under a moving freight train, injuring the driver and two assistants. The Russian Investigative Committee said both bridges were blown up, but did not name any suspects behind the attacks. Russian Senator Andrey Klishas blamed Kiev for both incidents.
Russian Analyst Sergey Poletaev says Sunday’s attack is wholly symbolic and reeks of political ambition. Strategically, it accomplished nothing:
Over time, Ukraine’s objectives have shifted — from military breakthroughs to media impact. … Tactical stunts may buy media attention, but they don’t reverse battlefield trends…. The hope is that such provocations either force Moscow into risky overreach or draw the US deeper into the war.
He claims that desertions have reduced Ukraine’s army by 50 percent.
The world now awaits Russia’s response.