Ukraine’s Massive “Spider’s Web” Russia Strike Explained – Kyiv wasted no time launching fresh strikes deep inside Russian territory after European leaders last month announced that they would not stand in the way of long-range missile attacks.
Ukraine Makes Military History with Drone Attack on Russia’s Bombers
The Ukrainian military launched what has been described by analysts as one of the most daring operations of the Ukraine war so far on Sunday, taking out dozens of Russia’s most advanced surveillance planes and bomber jets.
Ukrainian forces caught Russia completely off guard, successfully pulling off a drone strike that was 18 months in the making.
Known as “Operation Spider’s Web,” the attack utilized a fleet of small FPV drones hidden inside wooden cabinets and mounted on trucks to take Russian forces by surprise.
Video footage shared online showed the dramatic moment drones lifted off from parked trucks close to the Russian facility, before launching devastating strikes on large aircraft sitting on a runway.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who reportedly oversaw the entire operation, praised Ukrainian servicemen on social media, describing the attack as having produced an “absolutely brilliant result” that was achieved “solely by Ukraine.”
The Ukrainian leader’s comments suggest that the attack was pulled off using Ukraine’s domestically-manufactured drones, rather than NATO-supplied weapons.
The attack also comes barely a week after former Ukrainian military chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi told an audience in Kyiv that Ukrainian forces were now fighting a “high-tech war of survival.”
How Hard They Hit
Russia’s defense ministry confirmed the attacks took place and that airfields in five regions across Russia were targeted in the coordinated assault, including Murmansk, Ivanovo, Irkutsk, Amur, and Ryazan. The incident, though a direct response to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, was described by Moscow as a ‘terrorist attack.’”
The Russian defense ministry also attempted to downplay the severity of the strike, claiming that Russian forces repelled the attack while also admitting that several aircraft caught fire or were destroyed. Suspects involved in the attack on the ground in Russia were also reportedly arrested.
Despite Moscow’s attempt to downplay the incident, however, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) claimed that the strikes took out more than 40 Russian strategic bombers, amounting to some 34% of the country’s arsenal and an estimated $7 billion in damage.
Western analysts have claimed that the attack caused less damage, although BBC Monitoring’s estimate of $2 billion in damage is also substantial.
While the sheer scale of the damage caused by the attack is impressive enough, the fact that the drones reached so deep inside Russia is equally shocking. Ukrainian forces successfully transported the drones some 3,000 miles from Ukraine, reaching the Belaya air base deep inside Siberia.
Will This Hinder Ukraine Peace Negotiations?
The attacks didn’t only come as a surprise to Russia, but also to the United States. Reports revealed how President Trump was not informed about the attacks being launched ahead of time, despite the operation being in the works since President Joe Biden was still in the White House.
It remains unclear how the U.S. president will respond, having heavily criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin for launching a series of significant drone strikes on Ukrainian cities just last month. The president argued that Putin’s actions indicated that he was not taking peace negotiations seriously.
He threatened additional sanctions if Russia didn’t turn down the heat before rejoining the negotiations.
About the Author:
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society. His latest book is The Truth Teller: RFK Jr. and the Case for a Post-Partisan Presidency.
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