(Image source from: Indiatoday.in)
On Sunday, Ukraine executed a significant drone offensive aimed at five crucial Russian military airbases, marking what it termed its “most extensive operation to date,” targeting locations deep within Russian territory—thousands of kilometers from the conflict's frontline. Known as “Spider’s Web,” this secret operation conducted by Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) successfully targeted at least 41 aircraft, which included the Tu-95 and Tu-22 strategic bombers, as well as the A-50 aircraft used for radar detection and command that had been employed to carry out airstrikes on Ukrainian cities. Moscow acknowledged that Kyiv utilized first-person-view (FPV) drones to strike airfields in Murmansk, Irkutsk, Ivanovo, Ryazan, and Amur regions. Russia's defense ministry reported, “The Kyiv government initiated a terrorist act involving FPV drones at airfields in Murmansk, Irkutsk, Ivanovo, Ryazan, and Amur regions. All assaults against military airfields in Ivanovo, Ryazan, and Amur were thwarted, with no casualties among military personnel or civilians reported. Several individuals connected to the attacks were apprehended.”
Moscow conceded that several aircraft experienced “fire” during the offensive. The statement added, “Due to the launch of FPV drones from areas close to military airfields in the Murmansk and Irkutsk regions, several planes caught fire, though the fires have since been extinguished.” Ukraine has routinely used drones to target locations in Russia as retaliation for Russia's invasion that began in 2022; however, the approach taken in this instance varied. President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that the operation, dubbed "Spider's Web," had been in meticulous planning for over a year and a half, and he praised the “brilliant” outcomes of what he described as “our most extensive operation” in over three years of conflict. Zelensky reported that a total of 117 drones were deployed in this large-scale attack, successfully hitting “34 percent of the strategic cruise missile carriers” present at the impacted airfields.
Sources from the SBU indicated that the logistical planning for this operation was particularly intricate, involving the advance smuggling of drones into Russian territory. These drones were hidden under the roofs of wooden cabins mounted on trucks, which were opened remotely at the time of the strike to allow the drones to launch towards their nearby targets. Images released by the SBU depicted numerous small black drones concealed within what appeared to be transport containers.
Russia's defense ministry confirmed that the drones did not originate from Ukrainian land but rather were launched “in close proximity to the airbases.” The Belaya airbase in Irkutsk Oblast, approximately 4,300 kilometers from Ukraine's border, and the Olenya airbase in Murmansk Oblast, located about 2,000 kilometers from the northern frontlines, were among those attacked. Online footage seemed to display Russian aircraft ablaze at these two bases, with substantial smoke rising above the runway. The Russian ministry also noted that it successfully repelled other attacks in Ivanovo, Ryazan, and Amur, which is adjacent to China in the Russian Far East.
Ukraine's SBU security service announced that it successfully targeted Russian military aircraft valued at around $7 billion during a series of drone strikes. In a post on social media, the agency remarked, “The estimated value of the enemy’s strategic aviation impacted today due to the SBU's special operation is $7 billion.”
So far, Russia has not verified this assertion. Previously, the SBU stated that coordinated strikes affected 41 planes involved in “bombing Ukrainian cities,” indicating damage to Tu-95 and Tu-22 strategic bombers, along with the A-50 radar detection and command aircraft. The Russian defense ministry confirmed that “several aircraft were engulfed in flames” following a drone strike targeting bases in the Murmansk and Irkutsk regions, situated in the Arctic and eastern Siberia. They indicated that the fires were brought under control and there were no reported injuries. Additionally, Russia announced the detention of several individuals, including the driver of a truck from which a drone had launched, according to state media. However, President Zelensky stated that those implicated in organizing the assaults had been “extracted from Russian territory in time.”
This well-prepared operation unfolded during a sensitive period, three years into Russia's invasion. President Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned on Sunday that he would be sending a delegation to Istanbul, led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, to engage in discussions with Russian representatives on Monday. The meeting, hosted by Turkey, was motivated by US President Donald Trump's call for a swift resolution to end the ongoing conflict. Zelensky, who had previously expressed doubts about Russia's seriousness regarding the planned talks, indicated that key objectives included “a complete and unconditional ceasefire” as well as the return of prisoners and abducted children.
While rejecting earlier ceasefire proposals, Russia asserted that it had developed its own terms for peace but would not disclose them beforehand. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his US counterpart Marco Rubio conversed on Sunday regarding “various initiatives aimed at achieving a political resolution to the Ukraine crisis,” which included the upcoming discussions, as stated by the Russian foreign ministry and reported by the TASS news agency.
