Ukraine strikes: 41 Russian aircraft destroyed in daring raid

On Sunday, Ukraine conducted an operation codenamed "Spiderweb," attacking key Russian military airfields. It was the largest attack since the beginning of the Russian invasion. More than 40 aircraft were damaged, including an A-50 early warning plane and Tu-95 and Tu-22 M3 bombers.

The spectacular operation organized by the SBU shocked Russian propagandists. "Today will be remembered as a black day for Russian long-range aviation," "It's the Russian Pearl Harbor" - they wrote.

On Monday morning, SBU chief Vasyl Malyuk announced that drones had carried out attacks on targets at four Russian military airfields – "Belaya," "Dyagilevo," "Olenya," and "Ivanovo."

The enemy thought they could bomb Ukraine and kill Ukrainians with impunity and indefinitely. But that’s not the case. We will respond to Russian terror and destroy the enemy everywhere – at sea, in the air, and on land. And if necessary – we will reach them even from underground – emphasized the SBU chief.

Malyuk reiterated that the SBU struck at 41 aircraft of Russian strategic aviation, including A-50, Tu-95, Tu-22 M3, and Tu-160.

Representatives of Ukrainian intelligence conveyed to "The Wall Street Journal" and "Financial Times" that the SBU smuggled small quadcopter drones into Russian territory.

Wooden containers, where the drones were hidden, were then transported to the area. When the time came to strike, the containers were loaded onto trucks and taken near the airfields. The container roofs were opened remotely, and the drones launched towards their targets.

The "WSJ" described a video posted on social media showing a drone buzzing out of a container. Soon after, shots are heard – likely attempts to shoot it down. Another drone then flies out from the same container. In another video published by the Ukrainian side, shots from a reconnaissance drone are shown flying over lined-up and exploding Russian aircraft, according to "FT." In yet another video, SBU chief Vasyl Malyuk is heard saying: "The 'Belaya' airfield now looks beautiful, the enemy's strategic aviation."

As a result of the attack, more than one-third of Russian strategic bombers might have been damaged or destroyed. President Volodymyr Zelensky reported 34% destruction, adding that – "the office" of our operation was on Russian territory, directly next to the FSB in one of their regions. He stated that the people involved in the operation were moved out of Russia before the attack.

According to Oryx data, in the first three years of the war, Ukraine destroyed five Tu-22M3 and one Tu-95M (including two on the ground).

Independent observers analyzing public data believe that the actual losses to Russian strategic aviation may be less than the one-third claimed by Ukraine. However, as George Barros from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) notes, the SBU operation weakens Russia's ability to conduct complex air attacks that serve to suppress Ukrainian air defenses using drones and hard-to-intercept missiles. “By killing the archers instead of intercepting the arrows, it's a more effective way to degrade Russian capabilities,” he told "WSJ."

– Ukrainian special services have struck by far the heaviest blow of the war against the Russian Long Range Aviation bomber fleet – thinks Justin Bronk, a senior analyst at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).

Ukrainian special services carried out the heaviest attack on Russian long-range aviation since the start of the war.

Phillips O’Brien, a professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews, expressed a similar assessment, calling the Ukrainian air raid – "the most remarkable and successful operation of the war." – This is a big blow to Russian strategic air power, which is hard to overestimate. We do not know what the Russian reaction will be. However, we can assume it will be violent," he said in a conversation with "The Times."

The attack on Russian airfields occurred a few hours before the Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul on Monday.