Ukraine's Operation Spiderweb ranks with 'raid on Bin Laden,' US Senator Blumenthal says
Ukraine's recent drone strike against Russian bombers was a show of "skill and audacity" comparable to the U.S. operation to kill Osama bin Laden, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal told Politico in an interview published on June 3.
The Operation Spiderweb, conducted by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) on June 1, reportedly hit 41 bomber planes and other aircraft, inflicting what Kyiv claims is $7 billion in damage and disabling over a third of Russia's strategic bomber fleet.
"Just in the skill and audacity of these attacks, it will rank with the United States raid on Osama bin Laden and the Israeli pager operation as one of the great military achievements in recent years," Blumenthal said, adding that Ukraine "can hit anywhere."
The SBU said 117 drones, launched from concealed trucks positioned across Russian territory, simultaneously struck airfields in at least four regions — including sites thousands of kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
The targeted air bases reportedly housed Tu-95 and Tu-22M3 bombers, essential carriers of long-range cruise missiles used in Moscow's air strikes on Ukrainian cities.
Bin Laden, the late leader of the al-Qaeda terror group responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the U.S., was killed by U.S. special forces at his compound in Pakistan on May 2, 2011.
Blumenthal, a Democratic lawmaker, and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham are co-sponsors of a new bill that would impose additional sanctions on Russia as it continues to reject a ceasefire.
The lawmakers are meeting a Ukrainian delegation—including Presidential Office head Andriy Yermak—in Washington this week to discuss sanctions and defense cooperation with the U.S.
According to Blumenthal, battlefield successes could help convince U.S. President Donald Trump, who has been reluctant to impose fresh sanctions, to take the step.
Trump is yet to comment on the Ukrainian operation, while the White House confirmed he was not informed about it in advance. His special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, said the attack shows that Kyiv is "not lying down" but warned that an attack against Russia's nuclear-capable plans could risk further escalation of the war.
Read also: 'Closer to victory' – Operation Spiderweb gives much-needed morale boost to Ukrainians after 3 years of full-scale war
We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Newsweek
an hour ago
- Newsweek
The Bulletin June 6, 2025
The rundown: Senior Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev poked fun at the explosive war of words between U.S. President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, offering to mediate peace between the two political allies. Read his take on the Trump-Musk fallout. Why it matters: "We are ready to facilitate the conclusion of a peace deal between D and E for a reasonable fee and to accept Starlink shares as payment," Medvedev, a former president and prime minister of Russia, posted to X. The explosive feud between Trump and Musk marks a dramatic shift in their once-close relationship, as the latter has been one of the president's most prominent allies and donors. Musk and Trump began publicly feuding after the Tesla CEO ramped up his criticisms of the president's "Big, Beautiful Bill," which he described as a "disgusting abomination" and condemned for increasing the budget deficit. Meanwhile, Trump took to Truth Social to declare that he will terminate Musk's companies' governmental subsidies and contracts. Read more in-depth coverage: Could Elon Musk Be Deported By Donald Trump? What to Know TL/DR: His comments come at a time when Trump is trying to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine to end Moscow's ongoing invasion. What happens now? It's unclear how the Trump-Musk feud will continue to unfold in the coming days and weeks. The "One Big, Beautiful Bill Act" has passed the House and is now before the Senate. Musk's criticism could embolden fiscally cautious senators to push for changes. Deeper reading Russia's Medvedev Mocks Fight Between Donald Trump and Elon Musk
Politico
2 hours ago
- Politico
Graham wants to punish Russia with ‘bone-crushing' sanctions. It could backfire.
Sen. Lindsey Graham has pledged that his expansive sanctions bill would be 'bone crushing' for the Russian economy. But if enacted, the South Carolina Republican's proposal to impose 500 percent tariffs on any country that buys Russian energy would effectively cut the U.S. off from some of the world's largest economies — including allies in Europe. 'A 500 percent tariff is essentially a hard decoupling,' said Kevin Book, managing director of Clear View Energy Partners, an energy research firm. Graham appeared to acknowledge as much on Wednesday, when he proposed a broad carve-out for countries that provide aid to Ukraine. This exemption would spare the European Union, which continues to import almost 20 percent of its gas from Russia. But experts remain skeptical that the sky-high tariffs proposed in the Sanctioning Russia Act are in any way feasible. India and China buy roughly 70 percent of Russian energy exports, but several other countries that buy any oil, gas or uranium from Moscow — and aren't included in the carve-out — could also be exposed to tariffs under the bill. The United States, which is still reliant on imports of enriched uranium from Russia to fuel its nuclear reactors, could also run afoul of the bill. Edward Fishman, a senior researcher with the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, said countries in the crosshairs of the bill would struggle to halt their imports of Russian energy overnight. Tariffs of 500 percent on imports of goods made in China would send prices soaring, disrupt supply chains and could drive up U.S. unemployment to recessionary levels. Most likely, it would lead to a screeching halt in U.S. trade with China. 'It would hurt Americans quite a bit,' Fishman said. The legislation's goal, co-sponsored by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), is to starve Russia's war economy, which continues to earn hundreds of billions of dollars from energy exports. There is widespread support for the overall objective, with 82 senators signing on to Graham's bill so far, and growing support for a companion bill in the House. The bill is likely to change significantly as it moves through Congress and in consultations with the Trump administration, said Matt Zweig, senior policy director of FDD Action, a nonprofit advocacy organization affiliated with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. It may also take a long time. 'With sanctions legislation, you're also normally dealing with iterative processes where you would want to go through every nook and cranny,' Zweig said. Still, the widespread bipartisan support for the legislation suggests there is a high degree of support among lawmakers for tougher action on Russia. 'What Congress may be doing is pressuring the executive branch to act,' said Adam Smith, a partner at the law firm Gibson Dunn. 'There is a sense in the Senate that more sanctions on Russia need to be imposed, or ought to be imposed,' added Smith, who was a senior adviser to the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control during the Obama administration. Graham, the bill's most vocal Republican advocate, said as much in a meeting with reporters in Paris over the weekend, where he described the bill as 'one of the most draconian sanctions bills ever written.' 'The Senate is pissed that Russia is playing a game at our expense and the world's expense. And we are willing to do something we haven't been willing to do before — and that is go after people that have been helping Putin,' Graham said. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, dismissed concerns that the bill is too harsh. 'We need to make Putin understand he has to stop screwing around and come to the table. But we also need to follow it up and make clear we will be tough,' she said. Not everyone agrees. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who has long been skeptical about the effectiveness of sanctions to change the behavior of U.S. adversaries, bashed the bill on Monday as 'literally the most ill-conceived bill I've ever seen in Washington,' he said. 'It would be a worldwide embargo on 36 countries.' Meanwhile, Russia and Ukraine have made little progress on peace talks. Officials from both countries met in Istanbul on Monday and agreed to a further prisoner swap, but failed to achieve any major breakthroughs. Graham and Blumenthal visited Ukraine, France and Germany during last week's congressional recess, where they discussed the sanctions bill, as well as efforts to push Russia to the negotiating table. The proposal has been welcomed by European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen, who met with Graham in Berlin on Monday. 'Pressure works, as the Kremlin understands nothing else,' Von der Leyen said in a statement. 'These steps, taken together with U.S. measures, would sharply increase the joint impact of our sanctions.' Senate Majority Leader John Thune indicated Monday that the chamber could take up the legislation later this month. Republican senators have said they would like to secure the approval of the White House before moving forward. The proposed use of blanket tariffs to target countries that continue to do business with Russia's energy sector is novel and appears to be pitched to Trump's interests. On Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump viewed sanctions as 'a tool in his toolbox,' but declined to comment about his position on the bill. Trump appeared to be inching closer toward supporting the bill in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday, which linked to an op-ed in The Washington Post supporting the legislation. Speaking in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump indicated he wanted lawmakers to secure his approval before moving forward with the bill. 'They're waiting for me to decide on what to do,' he said, describing the legislation as a 'harsh bill.' The president has liberally wielded tariffs to advance his foreign policy agenda, but his implementation has been spotty. Wall Street has even adopted a trading strategy referencing Trump's capriciousness called TACO, which stands for 'Trump Always Chickens Out.' Tariffs of 145 percent on China, imposed in April, lasted a month before being dramatically scaled back to make way for trade talks, which have so far failed to secure a breakthrough. As it stands, the bill includes some levers that Trump could pull to forestall the tariffs, requiring the president to make a formal determination that Russia is refusing to negotiate or has violated any future peace agreement. Nahal Toosi, Joshua Berlinger, Phelim Kine and Katherine Tully-McManus contributed to this report.
Business Insider
2 hours ago
- Business Insider
Russian-backed paramilitary group assumes security role in Mali after Wagner pullout
The Africa Corps, a Kremlin-backed paramilitary force, announced it will maintain its presence in Mali following the recent departure of the Wagner mercenary group. The Africa Corps announced it will maintain its presence in Mali after Wagner's withdrawal. Wagner operated in Mali for over three years, reclaiming territories from Islamist militants. The Africa Corps aims to shift toward training local forces and supplying equipment. The Russian-backed Africa Corps has announced it will remain in Mali, following Wagner's decision to end its three-year mission fighting Islamist militants and begin withdrawing its forces. Wagner's involvement in Mali began after the country's military junta, which took power through two coups in 2020 and 2021, expelled French and United Nations troops who had been combating Islamist insurgents for nearly a decade. Wagner posted on social media that it had successfully reclaimed all of Mali's regional centers from Islamist forces, pushing them out and killing their commanders. Transition from Wagner to Africa Corps Following Wagner's exit, the Africa Corps was created with support from the Russian Defence Ministry after Wagner's founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, and commander Dmitry Utkin led a failed mutiny against Russian army leadership and fled to Belarus, confirmed it would continue Russia's paramilitary presence in Mali. On its Telegram channel, the Africa Corps stated that Wagner's departure 'does not signify a loss of Russian influence,' adding, 'Russia does not lose ground, but on the contrary, continues to support Bamako now at a more fundamental level,' referring to Mali's capital city. Experts, including Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at Germany's Konrad Adenauer Foundation, suggest this shift may signal a change in Russia's engagement from direct combat toward training local forces and providing equipment. Ongoing security challenges Despite the transition, Mali continues to face serious security threats. A series of recent attacks by Islamist insurgents reportedly killed more than 100 Malian soldiers and mercenaries. One bombing near Bamako targeted both Malian and Russian forces, illustrating the volatile situation. The insurgent group Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), active in the Sahel region, claimed responsibility for several recent attacks, further heightening the ongoing threat. The Malian defense ministry has not commented on the transition between Wagner and Africa Corps forces. Still, Russia's continuing paramilitary presence highlights the complex security landscape and Mali's reliance on foreign support to combat insurgency.
