Ukraine's 'Spider web' operation damages Russian air power
The Security Service of Ukraine on Sunday targeted airbases housing Russian strategic aviation. As part of the "Spider web" operation, 41 aircraft were destroyed, including A-50 planes, Tu-95, Tu-22 M3, and Tu-160. Experts have no doubt that the Ukrainian airstrike was "the most remarkable and successful operation of the war."
On Sunday, Ukraine conducted an operation codenamed "Spiderweb," attacking key Russian military airfields. It was the largest such 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.
Russia loses air superiority – SBU drones devastate four bases
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 (Greenwich Mean Time), SBU chief Vasyl Malyuk announced that drones had carried out attacks on targets deployed simultaneously 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.
Precise Ukrainian attack: Russia loses key long-range bombers
He reiterated that the SBU struck at 41 aircraft of Russian strategic aviation. Among them were A-50, Tu-95, Tu-22 M3, and Tu-160.
Representatives of Ukrainian intelligence conveyed in conversations with The Wall Street Journal and Financial Times that the SBU smuggled small quadcopter drones into Russian territory.
Subsequently, wooden containers were transported there, where drones were hidden before the attack. When the moment 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.
As described by WSJ, in a video posted on social media, a drone can be seen buzzing out of a container. Soon after, shots are heard – most likely trying 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, relates FT. In yet another video, SBU chief Vasyl Malyuk is heard saying: - "The 'Belaya' airfield now looks beautiful, the enemy's strategic aviation."
Russian strategic aviation paralysed
As a result of the attack, more than one-third of the total number of Russian strategic bombers could 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.
In the first three years of the war, Ukraine destroyed five Tu-22M3 and one Tu-95M (including two on the ground) – according to Oryx data.
Independent observers analysing 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, which serve to suppress Ukrainian air defences 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.
Experts agree: the attack is a massive blow
– 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.
