Ukraine destroys Russian bombers in surprise drone attack

Kyiv: Ukraine’s security services have destroyed or damaged billions of dollars worth of Russian warplanes, officials say, in a surprise attack carried out by explosive-laden drones snuck deep into Russian territory on trucks.

The operation – codenamed “Spider’s Web” – took more than a year and a half to plan and was personally overseen by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who praised the “absolutely brilliant” outcome on Sunday.

If the extent of the damage at five air bases is confirmed, the strikes would be the most destructive Ukrainian drone attack of the war and a significant setback for Moscow just hours before a new round of direct peace talks in Istanbul.

A source in the Ukrainian Security Service shows a Ukrainian drone striking Russian planes deep in Russia’s territory.Credit: Source in Ukrainian Security Service/AP

About the same time, Moscow launched one of its longest drone and missile attacks against Kyiv, including on a military training facility, where 12 soldiers were killed.

Russia’s Defence Ministry confirmed attacks on its air bases in the Irkutsk region, more than 4000 kilometres from Ukraine, as well as the Murmansk region in the north. Strikes were also repelled in the Amur region in Russia’s Far East and the western regions of Ivanovo and Ryazan, it said.

The Irkutsk region attack is the first time a drone assault has been mounted by Ukraine so far from the front lines. That region is beyond the range of the long-range strike drones or ballistic missiles Ukraine has in its arsenal, so required a special scheme to get the drones close enough to their target.

A Ukrainian military source said the “extremely complex” operation was carried out by hiding 117 first-person view drones in the roofs of wooden sheds. The sheds were loaded onto trucks that were then driven to the perimeter of the air bases. The roof panels of the sheds were lifted off by a remotely activated mechanism, allowing the drones to fly out and begin their attack.

Social media footage shared by Russian media appeared to show men climbing onto a truck in an attempt to halt the drones.

A Ukrainian security official said 41 Russian warplanes were hit, while a statement posted on the Telegram messaging app by Ukraine’s domestic security agency, the SBU, estimated the damage at $US7 billion ($11 billion).

“Thirty-four per cent of strategic cruise missile carriers at the main airfields of the Russian Federation were hit,” the SBU said. The claim could not be independently verified.

Andriy Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine’s Centre for Countering Disinformation, later said at least 13 planes were destroyed and others were damaged in the attack.

The planes targeted included A-50, Tu-95 and Tu-22M aircraft, the Ukrainian official said. The Tupolev Tu-95 and Tu-22 M3 long-range bombers are capable of deploying conventional and nuclear weapons, and Moscow has previously used them to launch missiles at Ukraine. A-50s are used to co-ordinate targets and detect air defences and guided missiles.

Unverified video and pictures posted on Russian social media showed Russian strategic bombers on fire at the Belaya air base in the Irkutsk region of Siberia. Regional governor Igor Kobzev said there had been a drone attack on a military unit near the village of Sredny, which is near the Belaya base, though he did not specify what the target was. He said the drones had been launched from a truck.

Head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Vasyl Malyuk examines diagrams after SBU’s special operation in Ukraine on Sunday.Credit: Security Service of Ukraine/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Photographs shared with Reuters by the Ukrainian security official showed dozens of short-range quadrocopter drones piled up in an industrial facility. The official said these were the same devices used in the attack.

Other images shared by the official showed the wooden sheds with their metal roofing panels removed, and the drones sitting in the cavities between roof beams.

Separate video posted on Russian Telegram channels, which has not been verified by Reuters, appeared to show matching sheds on the back of a truck. The roof panels can be seen lying on the ground next to the truck, and the video footage shows at least two drones rising out of the top of the sheds and flying off.

The Russian online media outlet that posted the video, Baza, said in a caption that it was filmed in the district near the Belaya air base.

One source shared video footage shot from a drone, saying it showed one of the strikes. The images showed several large aircraft, some of which appeared to be Tu-95 strategic bombers, on fire.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrives for talks with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin last week.Credit: Getty Images

The drone attacks followed explosions that caused two bridges to collapse and derailed two trains in western Russia overnight, killing seven in one of the incidents and injuring dozens more. Russian officials, however, did not say what had caused the blasts, and the word “explosions” was later removed from an investigative committee press release.

The United States was not told in advance about the drone attacks, a Ukrainian government official said, which were carried out hours before the next round of peace talks was due to go ahead in Istanbul, Turkey, on Monday. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth was briefed afterwards during a stop at Nellis Air Force Base and was monitoring the situation.

Zelensky said the attacks had inflicted “very tangible” losses on Moscow.

“An absolutely brilliant outcome. And an outcome produced by Ukraine independently,” Zelensky wrote on the Telegram messaging app. “This is our longest-range operation.”

He said Ukraine would send a delegation led by Defence Minister Rustem Umerov to Istanbul for the peace talks.

“We are doing everything to protect our independence, our state and our people,” he said.

Ukrainian officials had previously called on the Kremlin to provide a promised memorandum setting out its position on ending the war before the meeting takes place. Moscow had said it would share its memorandum during the talks.

The damaged bridge in Russia’s Bryansk region, bordering Ukraine, which collapsed onto a train on Saturday night.Credit: Russian Emergency Ministry/AP

Russia also launched on Sunday the biggest number of drones – 472 – against Ukraine since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022, Ukraine’s air force said, alongside seven missiles.

At least 12 Ukrainian service members were killed and more than 60 were injured in a Russian missile strike on an army training unit near the front line. Ukrainian army commander Mykhailo Drapatyi submitted his resignation after the attack.

Reuters, AP

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