Ukraine wipes out Russian doomsday nuclear bombers in massive attack on air bases: Kyiv

News.com.au

2 days ago

Ukrainian forces have wiped out dozens of Russian military aircraft, including nuclear bombers, in a massive drone attack on President Vladimir Putin's air bases deep inside the country, Kyiv sources are claiming.
The mission carried out by Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) using first-person-view (FPV) drones hit 41 Russian heavy bombers at four separate airfields thousands of miles from Ukraine, a security source told the Kyiv Independent on Sunday.
The drones were reportedly smuggled into the country hidden in trucks, The NY Post reports.
TU-95 'Bear' nuclear bombers, TU-22 'Backfire' fast-attack strike bombers and A-50 'Mainstay' command-and-control jets were among the aircraft that were destroyed in the strike, according to reports.
The Tupolev TU-95, in particular, has been a mainstay of Russia's doomsday deterrent for 70 years, with swarms of the bombers ready to take off for the US in the event of nuclear war.
One of the bases hit was in the Irkutsk region of Siberia, almost 2,500 miles from Ukraine.
Others targeted were in Murmansk in the Arctic Circle, Ryazan southeast of Moscow, and Ivanovo, to the northeast of the Russian capital.
The operation, codenamed ' Operation Spider's Web,' took some 18 months of planning and, if the details are confirmed, will deal a huge blow to Moscow's efforts to launch long-range missile attacks on Ukrainian cities.
Video shows what appears to be a row of heavy bomber aircraft on fire at one of the air bases.
Unconfirmed footage on social media shows FPV drones appearing to be launched from parked trucks next to the Russian airfields.
'The SBU first transported FPV drones to Russia, and later on the territory of the Russian Federation, the drones were hidden under the roofs of mobile wooden cabins, already placed on trucks,' the source claimed.
'At the right moment, the roofs of the cabins were opened remotely, and the drones flew to hit Russian bombers.'
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky personally oversaw the operation, the source told Kyiv Independent.
Earlier, a post featuring an emoji of a spider web was posted on X by President Zelensky's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak.
The Trump administration was not aware of the drone strikes before they happened, US and Ukrainian officials told Axios.
It comes just a day before the leaders of Ukraine and Russia are being pressured to meet for the latest round of US-proposed peace talks in Istanbul, following last month's aborted summit.
President Trump has urged Moscow and Kyiv to work together on a deal to end the three-year conflict.
Ukraine has said it is committed to peace, but is waiting for a memorandum from the Russian side setting out its aims. "For a meeting to be meaningful, its agenda must be clear, and the negotiations must be properly prepared,' President Zelensky wrote on X on Friday. "Unfortunately, Russia is doing everything it can to ensure that the next potential meeting brings no results,' he added.
President Zelensky set out his country's position on the talks in the wake of Sunday's attacks, demanding a complete and unconditional Russian ceasefire, prisoner release and the return of abducted children.
Russia so far has rejected calls for an unconditional ceasefire and repeatedly made demands that Ukraine has rejected.
The dramatic nature of the attack, which appeared to catch Russian authorities completely off guard, sparked warnings that US aircraft could be at similar risk of drone strikes.
'For over a decade I have outlined the exact scenario as we just saw in Russia. It could happen in the U.S. tomorrow. This was a pivotal event. U.S. military and political leadership cannot live in partial denial of this threat anymore. Our most prized aircraft are sitting ducks,' Tyler Rogoway, a longtime military strategy observer, wrote on X.
In separate attacks, the collapse of two bridges near the Ukrainian border killing at least seven people have been blamed by Russian investigators on sabotage.
Meanwhile, Russia reportedly launched one of its largest single drone attacks since the start of the war, with 472 drones and seven ballistic and cruise missiles involved, according to Ukrainian authorities, who said they had neutralised 385 aerial targets.