Moscow: In one of its most ambitious operations to date, Ukraine carried out a major drone assault on Sunday, targeting five strategic Russian airbases located deep within Russian territory. The operation, codenamed “Spider’s Web”, struck at least 41 aircraft and was described by Ukrainian officials as the country’s “most long-range operation” since the war began in 2022.
According to Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), the attack was the result of 18 months of meticulous planning and complex logistics. Drones were smuggled into Russia well in advance, hidden beneath the roofs of wooden cabins mounted on trucks. At the time of the attack, the roofs were remotely opened, allowing the drones to launch at close range and strike nearby airbases.
The airfields in the Murmansk, Irkutsk, Ivanovo, Ryazan, and Amur regions were all targeted. Russia’s Defence Ministry confirmed the attempted strikes, acknowledging that aircraft at the Murmansk and Irkutsk bases caught fire. No casualties were reported, and authorities said several individuals involved in the attacks had been detained.
Ukraine claimed the attack inflicted serious damage. President Volodymyr Zelensky said 117 drones were used in the operation, which destroyed or damaged 34% of Russia’s strategic cruise missile carriers. The SBU estimated that military aircraft worth $7 billion were hit, including Tu-95 and Tu-22 bombers and an A-50 radar and command plane.
Photographs released by the SBU showed compact black drones stored inside truck-mounted containers. The Russian defence ministry later confirmed the drones were not launched from Ukrainian territory, but from areas near the airbases, supporting Ukraine’s claims of having infiltrated the equipment deep into Russian territory beforehand.
Among the airbases struck were the Belaya base in Irkutsk Oblast, located over 4,000 kilometres from the Ukrainian border, and the Olenya base in Murmansk Oblast, around 2,000 kilometres from the front lines. Online videos appeared to show fires and plumes of smoke rising from these sites.
Russia said additional drone attacks in the Ivanovo, Ryazan, and Amur regions were thwarted. In Amur, near the Chinese border, no significant damage or casualties were reported.
Ukrainian officials claimed those involved in the operation had been safely evacuated from Russian territory prior to the attack. Meanwhile, Russian authorities confirmed the arrest of several individuals, including a truck driver allegedly involved in launching a drone.
Strategic Timing and Diplomacy Efforts
The attack comes at a sensitive moment in the war, now entering its third year. President Zelensky announced that a Ukrainian delegation, led by Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, would travel to Istanbul for talks with Russian officials on Monday, facilitated by Turkey.
The dialogue follows a push by international actors, including former U.S. President Donald Trump, to expedite a political solution. Zelensky, who has previously expressed doubts about Russia’s willingness to negotiate, listed key demands including a full ceasefire, the return of prisoners, and the repatriation of abducted children.
Russia, for its part, has indicated it has formulated peace proposals but has not yet revealed their contents. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed potential diplomatic pathways in a call with U.S. counterpart Marco Rubio, ahead of the Istanbul talks.
