Operation Spider's Web: Did Ukraine destroy two Russian A-50 surveillance planes?
People are still debating the extent of the damages caused by the surprise Ukrainian drone attack on four Russian air bases on June 1. Kyiv said that the attack, dubbed Operation Spider's Web, resulted in the destruction of 41 Russian aircraft. US officials told Reuters that they estimated that around 20 planes had been hit.
On social media, people have debated not just the number of planes destroyed, but also the type. Aside from a number of nuclear-capable bombers, some have claimed that the Ukrainian strikes also hit other high-value targets, namely two Beriev A-50 planes that were at Ivanovo airbase, located 250 kilometres from Moscow. These A-50s, the Russian equivalent of the American AWAC surveillance planes, are used for detecting aerial targets and for command.
With its radar dome, the A-50 can surveil and co-ordinate the movements of both friendly and enemy aircraft, as well as missiles. Their limited number makes these aircraft even more precious to the Russian army. Currently, there are only seven operational A-50s in the Russian Air Force, according to specialist site TWZ.com.
Supporters of the Kremlin on social media have tried to deny the reports of the destruction of these precious aircraft. Lord Bebo, a Russian influencer who regularly shares disinformation from the Kremlin, took to X on June 3 to say that the news was a 'lie' and that these aircraft weren't damaged. To support his statements, the influencer shared a satellite image showing two intact planes.
However, the image shared by Lord Bebo is misleading. It was taken at Ivanovo air base, and it does show A-50 planes. However, it has nothing to do with the raid on June 1.
We ran this image through a reverse image search (check out our handy guide here) and we discovered that this image was originally published on the American website Business Insider. The photo was taken by the satellite image company Maxar on May 3, 2025, nearly a month before the Ukrainian attack.
On June 4, the Ukrainian security services, the SBU, published a video from a camera that was mounted on one of the drones that attacked on June 1. The video proves that A-50s were indeed hit by Ukraine. At 1'31, you can see two drones hit the radar domes of the planes.
Out-of-service aircraft
However, even if these attacks on the A-50 planes were confirmed, they were possibly not as serious as you might think. If you look closely at the aircraft in the video, then you can see that they seem to be missing some or all of their D-30KP reactors – which means they would not be able to fly.
According to Benjamin Gravisse, a specialist in the Russian armed forces and the person behind the Red Samovar account on X, Ivanovo received about twenty A-50 planes in 1998 that were supposed to essentially serve as 'organ donors", meaning that they would be used for parts for other planes. The planes hit by the drones have a red star on them, which indicates that they are a vestige of the Soviet era and have likely not flown for the past "10 to 15 years", according to the expert on X.
Moreover, as the video released by the SBU cuts off at the moment of drone impact, it isn't possible to know if the planes were destroyed by the strikes or if they were just damaged.
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