Ukraine’s ingenious triumph

The Operation Spider’s Web drone attack that destroyed one-third of Russia’s strategic bomber fleet with 117 AI-programmed drones highlights Ukraine’s ingenuity. The way in which it struck air bases across five time zones deep inside Russia, including Belaya in Siberia 4000km away, reducing about 40 sophisticated warplanes worth $157m each to fireballs, is the stuff of military legend. Prized bombers that Russia no longer has the capacity to produce were destroyed within minutes of each other. The deep-cover operation, rehearsed for 18 months, was launched after commanders moved Vladimir Putin’s strategic bombers as far as possible from the Ukrainian border to protect them.

Ukraine remained determined to get at the bombers that night after night have rained down misery on the country’s men, women and children. Drones programmed with artificial intelligence to attack the Russian warplanes reportedly were sequestered across the Russian border, to be loaded into vans fitted with automatically opening roof panels. They were carried to Olenya in the Murmansk region, a major base for Russia’s nuclear-capable bombers, as well as the Belaya air base and other sites.

News agency accounts indicate some of the drivers of the nondescript vans were unaware of their lethal cargo when the roof panels opened and the drones emerged to destroy Putin’s most prized warplanes, vital to efforts to subjugate Ukraine. Among more than 40 believed to have been destroyed were the Tu-160 Blackjack, the world’s largest combat aircraft, and the Tu-95 Bear, capable of carrying conventional and nuclear warheads. Russia’s defence ministry confirmed the attacks in a rare honest admission. Kyiv’s spectacular success is likely to have a significant impact on the war. Vladimir Putin, unwilling to be part of a ceasefire deal, has been trying to convey smug confidence that after three years he is poised for victory. That confidence grew with Donald Trump’s harsh handling of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Yet Operation Spider’s Web shows Ukraine is far from beaten. With peace talks between Ukrainian and Russian delegations resuming in Turkey, the operation should reaffirm the confidence of Western nations to back Kyiv in its courageous struggle. Putin’s war machine has been taught an acutely embarrassing lesson. As Mr Zelensky said: “We are doing everything to make Russia feel the need to end the war.” And as Ukraine’s Canberra-based envoy Vasyl Myroshnychenko told The Australian, Kyiv is ready to repay Australia for its help in its David-and-Goliath battle with Russia by sharing its experience in asymmetric warfare and helping establish an autonomous weapons production sector in this country. At a dangerous time, that offer could prove valuable.