Ukraine released drone footage yesterday of this week’s sweeping attack on Russia’s bomber fleet. The attack on Sunday is by far Ukraine’s most complex operation in the three-year war.
Ukraine says Operation Spiderweb took 18 months to plan. The attack involved smuggling 117 remotely operated drones into Russia on the roofs of mobile log cabins, with pilots launching them near-simultaneously to military airfields across multiple time zones (see more).
Of the four airfields targeted, the farthest is roughly 3,000 miles from Kyiv. Ukraine says it damaged 41 bomber planes, destroying about half of them permanently. Satellite imagery has so far confirmed the destruction of at least 12 strategic bombers. Ukraine estimates the cost to Russia at more than $7B. President Donald Trump says Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to respond to the attack, forestalling a potential ceasefire.
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