Surprise drone attack on Russian airfields encapsulates Ukraine's wartime strategy

Globe and Mail

4 days ago

The covert operation was described as one for the 'history books' by Ukraine's President. In the span of a few hours on Sunday, nearly a third of Moscow's strategic bomber fleet was destroyed or damaged with cheaply made drones sneaked into Russian territory, according to Ukrainian officials.
The undertaking by Ukraine's Security Service, codenamed 'Spiderweb,' involved more than 18 months of painstaking planning and great risk. It was personally overseen by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
It came to fruition at a time in the three-year-old war when peace talks have failed to deliver the unconditional ceasefire long-sought by Kyiv, and as Moscow continues to launch record-breaking numbers of drone and missile barrages.
The attack on Sunday encapsulates Ukraine's wartime strategy: Outnumbered, outgunned and dependent on Western partners, Ukrainian military planners have sought innovative and cost-effective means to exact Russian losses, often leaning on the element of surprise.
Here's what we know about the Ukrainian attack so far:
Zelensky said 117 drones were used in the operation in which four military airfields were attacked resulting in the severe damage or destruction of 34 per cent of Russia's fleet of air missile carriers.
The complex operation was directed from an office that was next door to an office of the Russian security service, the FSB, Zelensky said, without elaborating on where in Russia it was. Executing it involved smuggling in first-person view, or FPV, drones to Russia, where they were placed in wooden containers, which were eventually taken by truck close to the airfields.
From there, the drones flew to strike Russia's strategic bombers. Social-media footage shared by Russian media on the day of the attack showed drones rising from inside the containers. By the end, more than 40 Russian warplanes were severely damaged or destroyed with costs estimated to be around US$7-billion, according to Ukraine's security service.
Among the most striking targets was Belaya air base in the Siberian region of Irkutsk – more than 4,000 kilometres away from Ukraine.
Russia's Defence Ministry in a statement confirmed the attacks, saying they damaged aircraft and sparked fires on air bases in the Irkutsk region, as well as the Murmansk region in the north. It said strikes were also repelled in the Amur region in Russia's Far East and in the western regions of Ivanovo and Ryazan.
There was no way to independently verify the claims from either side.
Strategic aircraft, including the A-50, Tu-95 and Tu-22M, were destroyed in the attack, according to the SBU.
Moscow has previously used Tu-95 and Tu-22M long-range bombers to launch missiles at Ukraine, while A-50s are used to co-ordinate targets and detect air defences and guided missiles. Ukraine has long hoped to degrade Russia's ability to deploy bombers that launch deadly missile barrages against Ukrainian cities, against which Kyiv has limited means to respond.
The loss of the planes could reduce Russia's ability to deliver devastating missile barrages against Ukraine.
The attack comes right as Moscow has unleashed a record-breaking number of drones and missiles against Ukraine to degrade domestic weapons production capabilities, shatter morale and consume Kyiv's limited quantities of air defence missiles. Often these attacks have also struck civilians.
The attack also gives Ukraine a morale boost at a time when peace talks have sputtered and could undermine Russian confidence that it can win the war with ease.
It was launched a day before a round of direct peace talks took place in Istanbul on Monday. It also occurred on the same day as Russia launched a record number of 472 drones against Ukraine in yet another barrage.
'The enemy thought it could bomb Ukraine and kill Ukrainians with impunity and without end. But that is not the case. We will respond to Russian terror and destroy the enemy everywhere – at sea, in the air, and on land,' said the head of the SBU, Vasyl Maliuk, on Monday.
'And if necessary, we'll get them from underground, too,' he added.
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Despite suffering setbacks and shortcomings on the battlefield, throughout the war Kyiv has sought to focus on Russia's rear to cripple and neutralize combat capabilities.
Sunday's operation is perhaps the most brazen in a series mounted by Ukraine.
In April, 2022, Ukraine sank the Moskva, the flagship of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, after striking it with two Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missiles. The sinking marked a major Ukrainian victory in the war.
In October, 2022, a Ukrainian attack damaged the Kerch Bridge, which links Russia to Moscow-annexed Crimea. The bridge, which holds important strategic and symbolic value, was hit again in July, 2023.
A year later, in August, 2024, Ukrainian forces launched a daring military incursion into Russia's Kursk region, the first time Russian territory was occupied by an invader since the Second World War. It dealt a humiliating blow to the Kremlin. Russia claimed in April, 2025, that it had fully reclaimed the border territory, though Ukraine insists it still has troops present there.