Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) reported on Sunday that over a 3rd of all Russian missile carriers were hit in a coordinated drone assault aimed toward other airfields in Russia positioned 1000’s of kilometres aside.
More than 40 plane are recognized to were hit, together with the A-50, Tu-95, and Tu-22 M3, inflicting total harm of greater than €6 billion.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned “Operation Spiderweb” had completed “an absolutely brilliant result” which was once “achieved solely by Ukraine.”
The Ukrainian president additionally shared extra main points on how the operation was once performed, explaining that 117 drones have been used, every with its personal pilot.
“The most interesting thing – and we can already say this publicly – is that the ‘office’ of our operation on Russian territory was located right next to the FSB (Federal Security Service) of Russia, in one of their regions,” he said in a post on Telegram.
In a major blow to Russia’s security services, Zelenskyy said Ukraine managed not only to execute the operation, but also to safely withdraw the people involved in it. They were operating “in several Russian areas – in 3 time zones.”
“Our most long-range operation. Our people involved in preparing the operation were withdrawn from Russian territory in time.”
Zelenskyy mentioned it took Kyiv “one year, six months, and nine days from the start of planning to effective execution.”
He thanked the pinnacle of Ukraine’s Security Service, General Vasyl Malyuk, and requested him to show the main points and result of the operation to the general public.
“Of course, not everything can be revealed at this moment, but these are Ukrainian actions that will undoubtedly be in history books,” he added.
“Ukraine is defending itself, and rightly so – we are doing everything to make Russia feel the need to end this war. Russia started this war, Russia must end it,” Zelenskyy wrote.
Operation Spiderweb
Although Ukraine’s Security carrier has no longer published extra main points at this degree, Ukrainian retailers are reporting precisely how the operation was once completed, referencing SBU assets.
According to those stories, first-person-view (FPV) drones had been smuggled deep inside of Russia and hidden inside of vehicles in cell wood cabins.
The cabins’ roofs had been then opened remotely, and the drones proceeded to release their assault on Russian army bombers.
Russia’s Irkutsk Governor, Igor Kobzev, showed that the drones that attacked an army base in Siberia’s Sredniy had been introduced from inside of a truck. In a publish on Telegram, he mentioned that the release website have been secured and there was once no additional risk to other folks’s lives.
Russian retailers additionally reported that different assaults had been introduced in a equivalent way, with drones rising from the backs of vehicles.
Social media pictures shared extensively via Russian media seems to turn the drones emerging from inside of packing containers, whilst panels lay discarded at the street. One clip looked as if it would display males mountain climbing onto a truck in an try to intercept the drones.
In a show of the making plans means of “Operation Spiderweb” Ukraine’s Security Service shared a photograph on Telegram of SBU head General Vasyl Malyuk taking a look at footage of Russian bombers and the airfields.
SBU operations
“Operation Spiderweb” isn’t the primary unconventional operation to be performed via Ukraine’s Security Service.
In October 2022, the SBU attacked Kerch bridge, which have been illegally constructed via Russia after its annexation of Crimea in 2014.
The explosion, which Russian government mentioned was once brought about via a truck bomb, badly broken the bridge which hyperlinks Russia-occupied Crimea and Russia.
The concentrated on of Russian bombers, which were wearing out huge missile assaults on Ukrainian towns, was once prior to now regarded as nearly unthinkable. Moscow had made positive to stay them neatly out of the variety of Kyiv’s guns, each home-made and the ones equipped via allies.
Olenya air base is positioned in Russia’s Murmansk area, round 2,000 km from the border with Ukraine. Belaya air base is in Russia’s Irkutsk area, in south-eastern Siberia and over 4,000 km east of the frontline. These two airfields had been a number of the hardest-hit right through Sunday’s operation.
Another notable facet of the “Operation Spiderweb” was once the collection of guns. Kyiv used FPV drones, which can be produced in Ukraine en masse and are extensively used and favored via the army for his or her affordability.
FPV drones typically most effective value a couple of hundred bucks, whilst one Russian A50 radar detection plane, which was once reportedly hit nowadays amongst different planes, prices over €300 million.
Ukraine’s presidential consultant and previous minister of strategic industries Oleksandr Kamyshin has mentioned Ukrainian producers have the capability to supply over 5 million FPV drones in line with 12 months.
