'Operation Spider Web': Ukraine Executes Large-Scale Sneak Drone Attack on Russian Warplanes
At least some of the unmanned drones were reportedly concealed in the false roofs of small houses earlier shipped to Siberia and possibly elsewhere in the country.
Ukraine on Sunday launched a clandestine attack, code-named "Spider Web," on Russian military airfields on Sunday in what observers are calling one of the most sophisticated and "spectacular" operations of the war between the two nations, now in its fourth year since Russia's 2022 invasion.
While a fleet of Ukraine drones, which appeared to have been smuggled into Russia ahead of the surprise attack, reportedly took out dozens of aircraft deep inside Russian territory, a Russian bombing of a Ukraine base claimed the lives of a dozen soldiers.
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According to the Guardian:
On the eve of peace talks, the drone attack on four separate airfields was part of a sharp ramping up of the three-year war, with Russia launching waves of drones at Ukraine, while Moscow said sabotage was to blame for two train derailments that left seven people dead.
Video from several military airfields across Russia showed destroyed aircraft and planes engulfed in flames, though the full extent of the damage remained unclear.
The military operations came ahead of the peace negotiations set to take place in Istanbul, Turkey on Monday.
Politico, citing an unnamed official within Ukraine's secret service known as the SBU, reports the operation was authorized and carried out at the highest levels:
The SBU official said that to prepare for the operation, called "Pavutyna" [or "spider web"), Ukrainian operatives delivered FPV drones to Russia territory along with mobile wooden housings.
"Later, in the Russian Federation, the drones were hidden under the roofs of housings, already placed on trucks. At the right moment, the roofs of the housings were opened remotely, and the drones flew to strike the Russian bombers," the official said.
The Ukraine-based Kyiv Independentadds:
Unconfirmed videos posted on social media show FPV drones being launched from trucks parked near the airfields.
Irkutsk Oblast Governor Igor Kobzev later confirmed "a drone attack on a military unit in the village of Sredny" and said the "source" of the drones was a "truck."
Murmansk Governor Andrey Chibis later confirmed that "enemy drones have attacked the territory of the Murmansk region" but gave no further details.
"According to witnesses on the ground and local officials, these drones were launched from sites near the airbases," said Al Jazeera's Dorsa Jabbari, reporting from Moscow. "That means this was an elaborate operation, most likely by the Ukrainians, that involved a number of people inside Russia."
If the extent of the damage is confirmed, the Guardian noted in its reporting, "the attacks in Siberia would mark Ukraine's most damaging drone strike of the war to date, amid an escalation in cross-border incursions before planned peace talks in Istanbul on Monday. Among the aircraft reportedly hit were Tu-95 and Tu-22 strategic bombers, which Russia uses to fire long-range missiles at Ukrainian cities."
