Trump left in dark over air base attacks on Russia

Yahoo

3 days ago

Donald Trump was not told about Ukraine's mass drone attack on Russia's strategic bomber bases.
The coordinated strikes, orchestrated by Ukraine's security services, targeted four airfields deep inside Russia in what could be the most damaging drone attacks of the three-year war.
Operation 'Web' allegedly hit more than 40 strategic bombers, took 18 months to execute and was personally overseen by Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukrainian security sources said.
However, the US president was not notified in advance of the attack in advance, Ukrainian and US officials said.
Despite the Trump administration's efforts to broker a ceasefire, both sides have ramped up their attacks in recent weeks.
Overnight, a wave of bombings targeted Russian railway lines, derailing trains and killing seven passengers.
Soon after, Ukraine said Russia launched the largest drone attack of the war so far and used a missile to strike a Ukrainian training camp, killing 12 troops and injuring dozens.
Ukrainian and Russian delegations will meet in Istanbul on Monday, where they will both present their roadmaps towards peace. Expectations on the meeting are low as each side has so far refused to back down on their key negotiating positions.
Ukrainian drones targeted four Russian bases deep behind enemy lines
The operation, known as 'Spiderweb' or 'Web', destroyed almost a third of Russia's strategic bombers, Kyiv says
Remote-controlled FPV drones were smuggled by Ukraine's security service in trucks close to the bases and then launched
The reported damage amounts to $7 billion
Russian confirmed the strikes, but claimed 'several' war planes caught fire
Donald Trump was not warned in advance of the coordinated attacks
A wave of bombing attacks also targeted Russian railways overnight, killing seven passengers
A Russian missile hit a Ukrainian training camp, killing 12 soldiers and injuring dozens
Russia and Ukraine's second round of direct talks will take place in Instanbul tomorrow morning
Russia launched its largest drone attack on Ukraine since the start of the war
The strikes, according to sources, targeted Russia's the long-range nuclear-capable Tupolev Tu-95 'Bear', the Tu-160 'Blackjack', the largest combat aircraft in the world, and the supersonic Tu-22M3 'Backfire'.
All the planes are regularly used to strike Ukraine.
Ukraine's security service says it wiped out 34 per cent of Russia's strategic missile carriers, amounting to $7 billion in damages.
In a post on Telegram, the SBU wrote: '7 billion US dollars. This is the estimated cost of the enemy's strategic aviation, which was hit today as a result of the SBU special operation 'Spiderweb'.
'34% of strategic cruise missile carriers at the main airfields of the Russian Federation were hit.
'We will tell you about the details of the special operation of the Security Service a little later.'
Andriy Yermak, Volodymyr Zelensky's top aide, posted just one emoji online - a spiderweb.
The coded message is a reference to Ukraine's 'Operation Spiderweb' that officials claim destroyed 40 of Vladimir Putin's prized strategic bombers across four bases deep inside Russia.
Ukraine does not typically comment officially on attacks inside Russian territory, but often alludes to them.
There is more reaction coming from Ukraine about its strikes on the bomber bases.
Sergiy Kyslytsya, Ukraine's deputy foreign minister, posted an edited playing card on X that features FPV (first-person-view) drones - the same type used to destroy Russia's strategic bombers today.
In an apparent reference to Ukraine still having cards to play before peace negotiations, he captioned the post: 'The King of Drones'.
Credit: Via X / United24media
Russia has now confirmed that several of its military aircraft 'caught fire' after a large-scale Ukrainian drone attack.
'In the regions of Murmansk and Irkutsk, several aircraft caught fire following the launch of FPV drones from a territory located in the immediate vicinity of the airfields,' the Russian defence ministry said.
It added that there were no casualties and that several 'participants' had been arrested.
Pro-Kremlin war bloggers are urging Russia's military to use its new intermediate-range ballistic missile, that Vladimir Putin has lauded as 'unstoppable', against Ukraine.
On Telegram, prominent bloggers called Ukraine's coordinated drone attacks on strategic bomber bases 'Russia's pearl harbour moment', referencing Japan's 1941 attack on America's Pacific fleet that brought the US into World War Two.
Calling for revenge, they said Vladimir Putin should strike Ukraine with the lethal missile, used for the first time in November, which splits into multiple warheads that rain down on targets in a deadly synchronisation.
A Russian missile hit a Ukrainian army training site, killing at least 12 soldiers and injuring scores on Sunday.
Kyiv did not disclose where the attack occurred, but reports suggest it was in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, which borders Donetsk to the east and Kharkiv to the north.
'Twelve people are known to have been killed and more than 60 wounded,' the Ukrainian army said this morning, in a rare acknowledgement of casualties in its ranks.
In response to the strike, the commander of Ukraine's land forces, one of the army's most senior military positions, has resigned.
Mykhailo Drapatyi called the attack a 'tragedy' and said he had ordered an investigation into the incident. 'Every commander is responsible every day - for orders, for decisions, for people,' he wrote.
In late May, a Russian missile hit a Ukrainian training ground in the Sumy region, killing scores of soldiers. Russia claimed the strike killed as many as 70 troops, while Ukraine put the figure at six.
Sunday's strike came just after a wave of bombings targeted Russian railway lines overnight, which derailed trains and killed at least seven people.
Just hours later, Ukraine destroyed Russian strategic bombers in a mass drone attack on four airfields deep inside Moscow's territory.
Credit: Telegram / russianocontext
A meeting between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul aimed at paving the way for a potential ceasefire is expected to take place at 1pm local time (11am BST), at the Ciragan Palace, according to the Turkish foreign ministry.
The operation to destroy Russian strategic bombers at four Russian airbases, according to Ukrainian sources, first involved Ukraine transporting small kamikaze first-person-view (FPV) drones to Russia.
The drones, which were laden with explosives, were allegedly then hidden under the roofs of containers inside trucks.
Once the trucks were positioned close to their targets, where the drones would be in range, the lids of the containers were opened remotely and the drones flew on to strike the bombers.
Ukrainian negotiators at the talks at Istanbul will present a proposed roadmap for reaching a lasting peace settlement.
The proposed roadmap, published by Reuters, begins with a full ceasefire of at least 30 days across land, sea and sky, to be followed by the return of all prisoners held by each side, and of Ukrainian children deported to Russia. A meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Under the blueprint which has been sent to Russia, Moscow and Kyiv - with the participation of the United States and Europe - will work to hash out the terms on which they can agree to put a complete end to their three-year-old war.
The terms include no restrictions on Ukraine's military strength after a peace deal is struck, no international recognition of Russian sovereignty over parts of Ukraine taken by Moscow's forces, and reparations for Ukraine.
The document also stated that the current location of the front line will be the starting point for negotiations about territory.
A Russian missile strike on a Ukrainian army training area killed at least 12 soldiers on Sunday and wounded more than 60 others, the Ukrainian army said.
'Today, on June 1, the enemy launched a missile strike on the location of one of the training units of the Ukrainian army,' it said in a statement.
'As of 12:50 pm (0950 GMT), 12 people are known to have been killed and more than 60 wounded.'
The Russian delegation has departed for Istanbul for the next round of talks with Ukraine scheduled for Monday, June 2, state-run RIA news agency reported on Sunday, citing a source.
Their departure came after Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that Ukraine will participate in the talks.
Russia launched the biggest number of drones on Ukraine since the full-scale invasion three years ago, Ukraine's air force said Sunday.
The air force said 472 drones were launched over Ukraine along with seven missiles.
It added that 382 of the drones were shot down or otherwise neutralised, along with three of the missiles.
Russia has recently stepped up the amount of drones it launches at Ukraine in its regular nightly barrages.
Credit: Stratcom Centre
A large explosion has rocked the Russian Arctic city of Severomorsk, which is home to the Northern Fleet's main naval base.
Footage showed a large blast, followed by a huge dust cloud, rising above the city.
There has not yet been official comment from either Russia or Ukraine on the explosion.
Volodymyr Zelensky has confirmed that Ukraine will attend a second round of direct talks with Russia in Istanbul on Monday.
'I outlined (Ukraine's) positions ahead of the meeting in Istanbul on Monday,' Mr Zelensky wrote on Telegram after meeting with his officials.
He added that the Ukrainian delegation would once again be headed by Defence Minister Rustem Umerov.
For days, there had been uncertainty around Kyiv's attendance at the Russia-proposed meeting after the Kremlin refused to share its peace settlement plans in advance of the high-level meeting.
These Ukrainian attacks on Russian air bases look very significant.
Even if only some of the claims about the scale of the attacks are true (ie that more than 40 Russian aircraft were destroyed), the fact that you have combined strikes on Murmansk in Russia's far north, more than 1,000 miles from the Ukrainian border, and even more extraordinary the Belaya Base in Irkutsk, 2,500 miles away, is breaking new ground.
In March, Ukraine announced it had developed a drone with a range of 3,000km but this appears to go further.
Some of the Russian planes allegedly hit are very vital pieces of kit, such as the A-50s, which have a $350m price tag.
There has been much talk about an expected Russian summer offensive, but today's attack is Ukraine's June surprise.
The drone attacks on Russian air bases come just hours after a wave of explosions rocked the Russian rail network around Ukraine.
Bombings targeted bridges and rail lines in regions bordering Ukraine, and inside Ukrainian-occupied territory, in what the Kremlin called 'acts of terrorism'.
Seven people died and scores were injured when a passenger train travelling to Moscow was derailed by a collapsed bridge in Bryansk, north of Kyiv.
Meanwhile, a freight train was derailed by another fallen bridge in Kursk, the territory that Ukraine seized before being forced out by Russian forces earlier this year.
On Saturday, Vladimir Putin was briefed on the alleged attacks by the FSB, Russia's spy agency, the Kremlin said.
Ukraine's strategic communications called today's strikes on Russian airfields 'probably the worst day in the history of the Russian air force'.
Ukraine destroyed Russian strategic bombers in a mass drone attack on airfields deep inside Moscow's territory.
The operation, carried out by Ukraine's security service (SBU), targeted four airfields in what could be the most damaging drone strike of the three-year war.
Confirming the strike, an SBU source said: 'Enemy strategic bombers are burning en masse in Russia — this is the result of a special operation by the SBU.'
Footage from Belaya base in Siberia shows rows of Russian strategic and nuclear bombers burning, while heavy plumes of black smoke were seen rising above Olenya air base in the Arctic. Russia moved its expensive bombers thousands of miles from the frontline to get them out of range of Ukraine's drones.
Drones also targeted the Ivanovo air base, northeast of Moscow, and Dyagilevo base, south of the capital.
A huge explosion has also rocked the Russian Arctic city of Severomorsk, which is home to the Northern Fleet's main naval base, although the damage is not yet clear.
The simultaneous strikes raise questions about the range at which Ukraine can carry out such sophisticated attacks, with some reports suggesting smuggled drones were launched from trucks close to the targets.
It comes after a wave of bombings targeting Russian railway lines overnight, which derailed trains and killed at least seven people.
Credit: Via Reuters
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