Latest news with #Murmansk
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Extent of damage following Ukraine's attack on Russia
Dramatic new footage recorded by Ukrainian attack drones has laid bare the devastation they inflicted on Russian airbases during Operation Spiderweb. The covert mission - overseen in secret by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and hailed as one of Kyiv 's biggest wartime achievements - used hundreds of first-person view (FPV) drones to strike at the heart of Moscow's air force. The state-of-the-art weapons were smuggled into Russia in wooden containers on the back of lorries, with the deadly cargo disguised as modular homes and transported by unsuspecting Russian drivers. The vehicles were parked near strategic airbases before their roofs opened remotely, unleashing swarms of drones that targeted and destroyed bombers on the ground. The strikes took place on Sunday, with footage released today showing flames engulfing aircraft at four military airfields - Olenya in the Arctic region of Murmansk; Dyagilevo in western Russia; Ivanovo, northeast of Moscow ; and Podmoskovye in Moscow. Sources inside Ukraine's SBU security service claimed the operation crippled 34 percent of Russia's long-range strategic bombers, including the nuclear-capable Tu-95s and Tu-22s, often used to launch cruise missiles into Ukraine. Other aircraft which were hit included the nuclear-capable Tu-160 bomber, the An-12 transport plane and the Il-78 tanker, according to the SBU. The footage was released as new satellite images of Belaya airbase have shown severe damage to at least three Tu-95s, according to analysts. In total Ukraine says 41 aircraft were damaged or destroyed with damage valued at around £1.5 billion. A share of the successfully targeted aircraft were destroyed completely while others will take a long time to repair, the SBU said. Some of the drones carried the mission out using AI, according to reports, and flew via a route that was programmed into them before the attack was launched. The new footage was shown as Putin held a video conference with senior officials. It was the first time he had been seen publicly since the humiliating Sunday strikes. His security officials reported that two train crashes on the same day were caused by Ukrainian saboteurs blowing up rail bridges. At least some of the trucks belonged to former DJ Artem Timofeev, suspected by Russian law enforcement of being a Ukrainian agent. A huge manhunt has been launched for his and his wife Ekaterina 'Katya' Timofeeva, 34, who is suspected to have aided him. The pair have gone missing, say reports. Putin-backing Readovka media outlet reported: 'Artem is now wanted in connection with a terrorist attack in Irkutsk region. 'Four lorries were registered in his name, and one of them was the source of the drones that launched [in an attack on a Putin airbase].' His wife 'has not been online for two weeks, and she has scrubbed all her active social media accounts.' Relatives of the couple declined to comment, according to Readovka. A flat in Chelyabinsk has been linked to Timofeev where he was reportedly seen a week ago. Reports are divided as to whether he was born in Zhytomyr Ukraine, or occupied Donetsk region. Both he and his wife were reportedly supporters in Kyiv of the Ukrainian revolution in 2014, which toppled pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych. Later they moved to Russia, where she also worked as a stylist and tattoo artist. He set up a haulage sole proprietorship in December 2024, and ran several lorries. In his marriage certificate, Timofeev's patronymic - middle name - is listed as Igorevich, while in a Russian wanted notice he is referred to as Valeryevich. It is unclear if he had sought to alter his name. He is specifically wanted over the strike against a Russian airbase in Irkutsk region. In 2014–2015, he lived in Kyiv, and mingled with local musicians, frequently attending parties. Reports say he co-owned a local clothing brand, posting photos from the Euromaidan protests, and mocking ex-president Yanukovych. Ukraine's SBU secret service said its main agents in the audacious strikes on the air bases had already left Russia. Zelensky today urged Kyiv's military backers to ramp up support in a bid to pressure Russia towards peace. 'We must not allow Russia to blur reality or mislead the world. Moscow must be forced into diplomacy,' Zelensky said in a video address to defense ministers meeting in Brussels. And after Sunday's devastating blow to Moscow, German defense minister Boris Pistorius said today that military success by Russia in its war in Ukraine was neither imminent nor to be expected.
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
New footage shows incredible devastation caused by Ukraine's drones as they obliterated Putin's nuclear bombers - as satellite images show trail of burned out jets worth billions of dollars
Dramatic new footage recorded by explosive-laden Ukrainian attack drones has laid bare the devastation they inflicted on Russian airbases during Operation Spiderweb. The covert mission - overseen in secret by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and hailed as one of Kyiv 's biggest wartime achievements - used hundreds of first-person view (FPV) drones to strike at the heart of Moscow's air force. The state-of-the-art weapons were smuggled into Russia in wooden containers on the back of lorries, with the deadly cargo disguised as modular homes and transported by unsuspecting Russian drivers. The vehicles were parked near strategic airbases before their roofs opened remotely, unleashing swarms of drones that targeted and destroyed bombers on the ground. The devastating strikes took place on Sunday, with footage released today showing flames engulfing aircraft at four military airfields - Olenya in the Arctic region of Murmansk; Dyagilevo in western Russia; Ivanovo, northeast of Moscow; and Podmoskovye in Moscow. Sources inside Ukraine's SBU security service claimed the operation crippled 34 per cent of Russia's long-range strategic bombers, including the nuclear-capable Tu-95s and Tu-22s, often used to launch cruise missiles into Ukraine. Other aircraft which were hit included the nuclear-capable Tu-160 bomber, the An-12 transport plane and the Il-78 tanker, according to the SBU. The footage was released as new satellite images of Belaya airbase have shown severe damage to at least three Tu-95s, according to analysts. In total Ukraine says 41 aircraft were damaged or destroyed with damage valued at around £1.5 billion. The new footage was shown as Putin held a video conference with senior officials. It was the first time he had been seen publicly since the humiliating Sunday strikes. His security officials reported that two train crashes on the same day were caused by Ukrainian saboteurs blowing up rail bridges. At least some of the trucks belonged to former DJ Artem Timofeev, suspected by Russian law enforcement off being a Ukrainian agent. A huge manhunt has been launched for his and his wife Ekaterina 'Katya' Timofeeva, 34, who is suspected to have aided him. The pair have gone missing, say reports. Putin-backing Readovka media outlet reported: 'Artem is now wanted in connection with a terrorist attack in Irkutsk region. 'Four lorries were registered in his name, and one of them was the source of the drones that launched [in an attack on a Putin airbase].' His wife 'has not been online for two weeks, and she has scrubbed all her active social media accounts.' Relatives of the couple declined to comment, according to Readovka. A flat in Chelyabinsk has been linked to Timofeev where he was reportedly seen a week ago. Reports are divided as to whether he was born in Zhytomyr Ukraine, or occupied Donetsk region. Both he and his wife were reportedly supporters in Kyiv of the Ukrainian revolution in 2014, which toppled pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych. Later they moved to Russia, where she also worked as a stylist and tattoo artist. He set up a haulage sole proprietorship in December 2024, and ran several lorries. In his marriage certificate, Timofeev's patronymic - middle name - is listed as Igorevich, while in a Russian wanted notice he is referred to as Valeryevich. It is unclear if he had sought to alter his name. He is specifically wanted over the strike against a Russian airbase in Irkutsk region. In 2014–2015, he lived in Kyiv, and mingled with local musicians, frequently attending parties. Reports say he co-owned a local clothing brand, posting photos from the Euromaidan protests, and mocking ex-president Yanukovych. Ukraine's SBU secret service said its main agents in the audacious strikes on the air bases had already left Russia. Zelensky today urged Kyiv's military backers Wednesday to ramp up support in a bid to pressure Russia towards peace. 'We must not allow Russia to blur reality or mislead the world. Moscow must be forced into diplomacy,' Zelensky said in a video address to defence ministers meeting in Brussels. German defence minister Boris Pistorius said on Wednesday that military success by Russia in its war in Ukraine was neither imminent nor to be expected.
Russia Today
5 hours ago
- Politics
- Russia Today
US intel behind Ukrainian attack on Russian planes – ex-French spy
Ukraine would not have been able to remotely attack strategic Russian aircraft parked deep inside Russian territory without direct intelligence and satellite support from the US, a former officer in the French military has claimed. Ukrainian drones struck airbases across Russia on Monday in a coordinated attack known as 'Operation Spider's Web', targeting sites from Murmansk in the Arctic to Irkutsk in Siberia. Kiev has claimed that around 40 Russian military aircraft were damaged or destroyed, including Tu-95 and Tu-22 long-range bombers. Moscow has not confirmed the claims, reporting that most of Kiev's drones were shot down. The strikes were reportedly carried out using commercial trucks rigged with explosive-laden drones that had been smuggled inside Russia. Kiev's operation involved piloting FPV drones thousands of kilometers from the front lines, Guillaume Ancel, a writer and former French army lieutenant colonel, told Le Monde on Wednesday. 'This is possible and conceivable only with the support of a powerful satellite communications system,' he said. 'Since the Ukrainians don't have this mastery, if they were able to act remotely, it's certainly thanks to the United States.' Ancel suggested that Kiev 'would not have been able to carry out the operation without information from American intelligence.' While some in the West have hailed Ukraine's latest drone operation, Stephane Audrand, an international risk consultant and reserve officer, has stressed that it would not actually have much of an impact. Despite its spectacular nature, 'Operation Spider's Web' 'will not change the tactical balance of power on the ground or the course of the war, because these weapons are not used on the battlefield,' Audrand told Le Monde. Throughout the Ukraine conflict, Moscow has described the hostilities as a Western proxy war against Russia and has condemned arms supplies to Kiev as counterproductive to the peace process. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also recently acknowledged the nature of the conflict, stating: 'Frankly, it's a proxy war between nuclear powers – the United States, helping Ukraine, and Russia.' Moscow has vehemently condemned Ukraine's continued drone strikes into Russian territory in recent weeks, claiming that they undermine ongoing diplomatic efforts to end the conflict. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has claimed that the latest attacks are an attempt to derail the peace process.
News.com.au
2 days ago
- Politics
- News.com.au
Operation Spiderweb: How Ukraine pulled off the unthinkable
Massive over-the-horizon radars. Interceptors capable of flying 3000km/h. Hundreds of fighter jets. Dozens of missile batteries. Highly mobile, anti-aircraft tanks. But Russia's trillion-dollar defence infrastructure could not do anything about a few truckloads of wi-fi connected toy drones. 'Enemy strategic bombers are burning en masse in Russia,' Ukraine's Security Service has declared. It's a devastating blow for the Kremlin. It's a daring display of resistance by Kyiv. And the broad-daylight raid may have cost Russia a significant portion of their nuclear 'mutually-assured destruction' force. Ukraine claims attacks on four military airfields as far as 4000km from the war zone have cost Russia 41 combat aircraft - chief among them being highly prized cruise-missile-carrying strategic bombers. There are also unconfirmed reports that the Northern Fleet Headquarters in Murmansk - home of Russia's cruise-missile armed nuclear submarines - has also been hit. Military analysts say it is one of the most significant raids in modern warfare. It is clear evidence that the world's militaries can do little to protect exorbitant expensive combat jets - such as Australia's $16 billion worth of 72 F-35 Lightning stealth fighters - against commercially available drones costing just a few thousand dollars each. But the full impact of the strikes is yet to be seen. The Kremlin had hoped to enter ceasefire talks later today on a high after one of its own largest attacks of the war. A record 472 drones and dozens of missiles were sent to attack Ukrainian cities on Saturday night. But the loss of its prized strategic bombers has cast a whole new light on today's Istanbul peace talks. It's also turned decades of military thinking on its head. 'It's actually having an effect on how the US is thinking about investments in the future,' says Professor Mai'a Cross of Boston's Northeastern University. 'Instead of these huge, expensive projects, like the F-35 (stealth fighter), you have these relatively cheap fleets of drones that are able to destroy a whole line of Russian tanks. That has changed how many countries think about the future of security.' Operation Pavutyna (Spiderweb) 'Of course, not everything can be revealed at this moment, but these are Ukrainian actions that will undoubtedly be in history books,' Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said in an overnight post on X. 'Ukraine is defending itself, and rightly so — we are doing everything to make Russia feel the need to end this war. Russia started this war, Russia must end it. Glory to Ukraine!' President Zelensky says the clandestine operation was 18 months in the making. Truckloads of small disposable drones were slipped across Russian borders to staging points across the country. These were then armed with explosives and programmed to locate particular targets. Then they were hidden in timber pallets placed on the back of trucks before being driven within range of their targets. Kyiv says their ability to connect with local commercial telephone and wi-fi networks allowed the special forces agents to escape up to a day before the remote-controlled attack was unleashed. Up to 150 drones and 300 grenade-sized explosives were reportedly used in the attack. Russian military blogger Sergey Kolyasnikov claims some of the drones had been intercepted. 'We found a warehouse where containers with drones were collected, Chelyabinsk, Sverdlovsk,' he posted to Telegram. 'It was rented for 350,000 rubles ($6,500). That's why the truck in the Amur region had Chelyabinsk license plates – they were leaving from there.' The quadcopters were assembled in Russia before being loaded in pallets and concealed in the back of lorries. 'At the right moment, the roofs of the (pallet-huts) were remotely opened, and the drones flew to hit Russian bombers,' an anonymous official told AP. Russia's governor of Siberia's Irkutsk district, Igor Kobzev, posted a video showing drones flying overhead as a plume of smoke grew in the distance. 'It is known that this was a drone attack on a military unit in the village of Sredniy,' he stated on Telegram. 'The source from which the drones were launched has already been blocked. It's a truck. The main thing is not to panic. There is no threat to the lives and health of civilians.' Another witness described the same attack: 'I work at a tyre shop,' one Telegram post reads. 'A truck pulled in, and drones flew out of it.' A new way of war 'FPV drones are about tactical dominance,' one Russian military analyst has commented since the attack. 'They bring chaos, fear and uncertainty to close combat. They are not feared. They are hated. They are cheap, massive and deadly effective. And their potential grows with each passing day: AI guidance, automated launches, swarms. These are no longer makeshift weapons, but new close-combat artillery.' It's not a new claim. What is new is the physical demonstration of the extent to which this is new. Russian President Vladimir Putin was promised by his generals that his February 2022 invasion of Ukraine would last just three days. Three years - and several purges of top generals - later, the fighting continues. That's largely due to Ukraine's rapid recognition of the power of drones. And its equally rapid development of an emergency war drone production line. 'Even though Ukraine is experiencing a number of setbacks at the moment, the way in which it has made its overall military capability and production of drones so efficient is absolutely remarkable,' says Professor Cross. 'What we're seeing is the sheer ingenuity of those on the front lines in dealing with a weaponry shortfall, and innovating in a way that is really quite unprecedented.' And the drones are proving to be much cheaper and quicker to produce than advanced artillery shells or precision-guided missiles. Some specialist varieties are built in backyard factories from about $15,000 of imported electrical components and motors. Frames and fairings are 3D printed. As are adaptors to turn grenades into bomblets. But many are the same $2000 hobbyist quadcopter drones you can find on the shelves of local electrical stores. Troops simply strap explosives on them and fly them directly into enemy bunkers, trenches, warehouses, tanks, trucks … anywhere. They're making it difficult to step out into the open on the battlefield. And equally difficult to hide. However, their innocuous nature and small size are huge assets for special operations forces. The ability to conceal, move and deploy mass drone attacks will unsettle commanders of largely open-air military facilities from Australia's main F-35 base at RAAF Williamtown in New South Wales to Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. Deep strike 'Russian strategic bombers, all burning delightfully,' the Head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Lieutenant General Vasily Maliuk, comments in footage released about the attack. One attack - on the Olenya airfield in Murmansk - has apparently proved particularly successful. 'The driver's running are flying from his truck toward the base,' one Russian observer posted. Dozens of strategic bombers had deployed to the facility in preparation for Saturday night's attacks on Ukrainian cities. These had reportedly returned and were lined up on the airfield for refuelling and rearming. Russia is generally believed to have less than 90 operational strategic bombers. These include the ungainly Tu-95 'Bear' four-engined turboprop, which entered service in 1952. The Tu-22M 'Backfire' swing-wing bomber began operations in 1962. And Only a handful of the more modern Tu-160 'Blackjack' heavy strategic bombers (built in the late 1980s) remain in service. All are designed to carry nuclear-capable cruise missiles. All have been extensively used - carrying conventional explosive missiles - against Ukraine. Ukraine's counter-intelligence agency, the SBU, has stated on Telegram, that '34 per cent of strategic cruise missile carriers at the main airfields of the Russian Federation were hit.' Also among the destroyed were A-50 surveillance aircraft. It is Russia's equivalent to the US E3 Sentry and Australian E-7A Wedgetail airborne early warning and control (AWAC) jets. Such aircraft have been high-priority targets since the onset of the war. Yesterday's raids included four airfields. Dyagilevo Base in Riazan. IIvanovo Base in Ivanovo. Belaya Base in Irkutsk, some 4000km from Ukraine in south-eastern Siberia. And Olenya air base in Russia's Murmansk region - 2000km north of Ukraine. Previous successful Ukrainian drone attacks had forced Russia's bomber fleet to seek safety in these more distant airfields. Russia can no longer produce Tu-95 and Tu-22M bombers. Their production lines have long since been retired and dismantled. Its recently restarted Tu-160 construction facility is delivering just three new aircraft per year. It will take Moscow years to recover from the loss. 'The strategics were not completely destroyed, but their damage is unlikely to be repaired by the Russian military-industrial complex in its current state in the near future,' Ukrainian analyst Alexander Kovalenko commented on Telegram. Drone warriors Almost every aspect of warfighting is being taken over by drones. Ukrainian media reports that just one dedicated drone unit - the Birds of Magyar - launched 11,600 drone sorties (flights) in just one month, striking more than 5300 targets. In April, Ukraine's total drone force reportedly hit 83,000 targets. Two-thirds involved small first-person-view (FPV) remote drones. The remaining third were heavier 'bomber' drones with a degree of autonomous control. All are specialised in destroying troop bunkers, ammunition and supply dumps, transport infrastructure - and tanks. Drones are an alternative to heavy artillery and strike jets. Ukraine's drones reportedly give its front-line troops a 15km-deep 'attrition zone', where attacking Russian forces can be engaged before they come into direct contact. 'Ukrainian commanders aim to hamper the logistics of Putin's invasion force and significantly reduce the potential for future Russian advances,' says National Institute for Strategic Studies analyst Mykola Bielieskov. 'This approach is being dubbed the 'drone wall,' and may well come to play a far bigger role in efforts to freeze the front lines.' Drones are an alternative to fighter jets and anti-aircraft missile systems. 'Ukraine has, for some time, been expanding its ability to knock down Russian reconnaissance drones using its own drone interceptors, thereby blinding Russian units that would otherwise direct glide bombs and ballistic missiles against targets in the Ukrainian rear,' explains Dr Jack Watling of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). Drones are an alternative to tanks and shoulder-fired missiles They can be flown into the vulnerable exhaust ports, open hatches and thin top armour of the battlefield behemoths. Attempts to add hoods and spikes to fend off these bite-sized attackers have proven unsuccessful. Drones are an alternative to saboteurs. 'Imagine, on game day, containers at railyards, on Chinese-owned container ships in port or offshore, on trucks parked at random properties… spewing forth thousands of drones that sally forth and at least mission-kill the crown jewels of the USAF', warns the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) analyst Tom Shugart. But every action has a reaction. '(Russia) is attacking Ukraine's UAV pilots,' says Dr Watling. 'Here the methodology is to use direction finding, signals intelligence and reconnaissance to pinpoint the location of pilots and then target them with wire-guided drones and glide bombs.'
New York Times
2 days ago
- General
- New York Times
Ukraine Says It Unleashed 117 Drones in Attack on Russia: What to Know
Ukraine said it secretly planted a swarm of drones in Russia and then unleashed them in a surprise attack on Sunday, hitting airfields from eastern Siberia to Russia's western border. The strike set several Russian aircraft on fire, stunned the Kremlin and dealt a strategic and symbolic blow to Moscow's relentless bombing campaign in Ukraine. Russian officials said that there were no casualties and that other Ukrainian attacks had been repelled. Here's what to know about the operation. What happened? Russia's Defense Ministry said on Sunday that Ukrainian drones had attacked airfields in five regions stretching across five time zones. Several aircraft caught fire in the regions of Murmansk, near the border with Norway, and Irkutsk, in eastern Siberia, the ministry said. 'Some participants of the terrorist attacks were detained,' it said. Ukraine said that 117 drones were used in the attacks. An official in Ukraine's security services, known as the S.B.U., said that dozens of aircraft had been damaged in the strikes. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive intelligence operation. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
