Ukraine destroys dozens of Russian aircraft in audacious strike
Isabella Higgins: Dubbed Operation Spider Web, a strike deep into the heart of Russia that could shift the strategic balance of the war in Ukraine. Ukrainian drones struck a number of airbases, destroying dozens of aircraft worth billions of dollars. And it comes on the eve of peace talks. Let's get more on this from Europe Bureau Chief, Mazoe Ford. Mazoe, what do we know about this Ukrainian operation?
Mazoe Ford: Good morning, Isabella. This operation was codenamed Spider's Web. It took a year and a half to plan and it was one of Kyiv's most audacious attacks on Russia so far. It was personally overseen by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President, and it was all done without the knowledge of the United States. These Ukrainian drones attacked four airfields from the west of Russia to Moscow and even reaching the Far East, thousands of kilometres from Ukraine. And Ukraine claims to have damaged or destroyed 40 Russian warplanes. This is interesting because the drones were smuggled into Russia. They were loaded onto trucks and driven to locations near the airbases before being launched remotely. And drones have, of course, struck inside Russia and attacked aircraft before, but never on this scale. Russia says it's repelled most of the attacks and has detained some of the people involved. But Isabella, the Kremlin will be fuming about this because it's highly embarrassing. They always claim to be the stronger country militarily and yet Ukraine has managed to sneak in and do this.
Isabella Higgins: And Mazoe, this comes ahead of more peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul later today. What chance do they have?
Mazoe Ford: Well, after a weekend of fighting on both sides, the Russians continued to attack Ukraine with its drones and 472 went across on Saturday night local time, the largest number in a single night. So with that and with these Ukrainian strikes into Russia, you've got to imagine that going into these talks, the sides are going to be very prickly with one another. The Russians have touched down in Istanbul and they've not yet said what their terms are for this second round of talks in the past month. Ukraine is on the way. It says it's repeated its call for a complete and unconditional ceasefire, the release of prisoners and a return of the abducted children. But both sides are going to be back in this room on Monday afternoon local time, but they still enter it very, very far apart.
Isabella Higgins: Europe Bureau Chief Mazoe Ford reporting there.
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