Latest news with #OperationSpiderweb
The National
19 minutes ago
- Politics
- The National
David Pratt: Ukraine shows how warfare has changed
While the real details remain scant of Ukraine's recent swarm drone strike across swathes of Russia all the way from the Arctic region to the Far East, enough is known for the world to sit up and take notice. Analysts might be split over their assessment of just how damaging Operation Spiderweb was on Russia's long-range strategic bomber fleet. On the 'optimistic' side the attack say some destroyed several scores of aircraft, while those a little more cautious with the estimates, insist it was perhaps only a dozen or so. In one sense the numbers don't really matter but other things certainly do. To begin with, when seen from Ukraine's perspective, the daring attack sent a clear message to the Kremlin that nowhere is untouchable in Russia. READ MORE: 'New low': SNP slam Labour over MP lobbying trip to Israel amid Gaza genocide Far from not having any 'cards to play' as US president told his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Kyiv has made it clear that not only does it still hold cards but plays them with great audacity and cunning as it has done from the moment Russia invaded Ukrainian territory. The operation has also delivered a morale as well as strategic boost at a time when many Ukrainians felt that their backs were to the wall like never before. Just to add to that boost, a few days later Ukraine released a video of another attack, this time on Russia's most important link to Crimea, the Kerch Bridge. The fact that it was recorded using Russia's own surveillance system, once again displayed the out-of-the-box thinking that has become the hallmark of Ukraine's military intelligence and special forces operations. Almost from day one, Russia has found Ukraine a formidable adversary and has been itself on the receiving end of a number of ignominious strikes including the loss of its Black Sea Fleet flagship, the Moskva, and much of the Black Sea Fleet itself at the hands of a country which effectively lacks a navy. But there are wider messages the world can take from Operation Spiderweb, too, the first being that this war has now moved well beyond the parameters of its early days. With every month that passes in the conflict, the capacity for it to escalate into a new dangerous realm intensifies. Russian military assets wherever they might be, are now fully in Ukraine's crosshairs. Ukraine's own civilian population meanwhile have never been off limits to Russian forces and Moscow appears hell-bent on doubling down on them at every turn. Every war has its tipping points, and you can't help but feel that it would only take one serious overstep or miscalculation between these two protagonists for this to move into the unthinkable and Russia's use of its nuclear capability which in turn could drag in Ukraine's allies in an unprecedented way. But there are other messages also to be taken from Operation Spiderweb. As The Economist magazine pointed out in its aftermath, the world must wake up to the fact that 'new technology, deployed inventively, can be disproportionately lethal. The other is that the battlefield now stretches deep behind the front line, overturning the assumptions of the past quarter century'. In all of the visits I've made to Ukraine since the Russian invasion in 2022, I've been struck by the hybrid or new methods of warfare coming out of the conflict. As I once described it to a friend, what you encounter is like a cross between the Battle of the Somme and something out of the movie Bladerunner. READ MORE: Jeremy Corbyn brings in bill for public inquiry into UK complicity in Gaza genocide Or to put this another way, a war in which its protagonists live in a 'whites of their eyes' encounter one minute while at other times bringing injury or death to the enemy on a screen as you would in a computer video game. The power of drone warfare has been there for all to see and is causing a rethink of weapons priorities across the world. Russia and China have made drone technology a priority while the best that can be said for Europe is that it lags considerably behind. Which brings me to Britain's recent Strategic Defence Review, published curiously enough only the day after Operation Spiderweb. To hear Prime Minister Keir Starmer talk of making Britain a 'battle-ready, armour-clad nation' and moving to a state of 'warfighting readiness,' sent a chill down my spine. Listening also to UK Defence Secretary, John Healey, talk as if war with Russia was just around the corner was likewise enough to give anyone sleepless nights. God knows I'm no fan of this Labour Government – anything but – but when all is said and done it's impossible to get away from the fact that the world in which we live presents ever-increasing threats by the day. Those who would argue that by chucking more money and effort at preparedness and upgrading the UK's military might only make things worse do have a point. But only the most naive would assume that other nations, perhaps Russia or China, or even non-state actors, would not seek to take every advantage were Britain and its European allies to drop their guard. Some in fact might argue that for too long now that guard has been dropped and complacency set in hence the sudden realisation of vulnerability. Not being prepared for crises is not only stupid but a sign of poor government and whatever Starmer says there remains the glaring gap between ambition and money when it comes to defence. That said, the review is right in its warning that 'emerging technologies are already changing the character of warfare more profoundly than at any point in human history'. I'm sure we all wish it were otherwise. I'm sure too we would much prefer it were every single diplomatic effort made to reduce tensions across the globe to avoid the need to harness such technology for warfare. I wish the world was full of pacifists, but it's not, that is the inescapable evidence of history. After 40 years as a correspondent witnessing wars up close, I for one need no convincing of how much better it is to deter war than wage it.
The Independent
an hour ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump warns no ‘immediate peace' after Putin call following Operation Spiderweb
Donald Trump has said there will be 'no immediate peace' in Ukraine following a phone call with Vladimir Putin. In a social media post after the call on Wednesday, the US president said Mr Putin had told him 'very strongly' that he would respond to Ukraine's weekend drone attack on Russian airfields. The exchange – which lasted for an hour and 15 minutes – was Mr Trump's first known call with Mr Putin since 19 May. While on the campaign trail, the US president had promised to end the war in Ukraine on the first day of his second term. Mr Trump said he and Mr Putin had 'a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate peace', adding that they had also discussed Iran's nuclear programme. Ukraine's Security Service revealed further details on Wednesday about its Operation Spiderweb drone attack on Russian air bases, which it claimed destroyed or damaged 41 Russian aircraft.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Putin tells Trump Russia ‘will have to respond' to Ukraine drone attack
Donald Trump spoke with Vladimir Putin for more than an hour on Wednesday, but he conceded the talks would not lead 'to immediate peace' in Ukraine, and warned that Russia would respond to Ukraine's successful attacks this week on its airfields. The US president, who repeatedly claimed he could end the Ukraine war in 24 hours during his election campaign, did not attempt to discourage the Russian leader from retaliation, according to his description of the discussion on his Truth Social platform. He noted instead that Putin had offered to participate in US talks with Iran about its nuclear programme, which Trump claimed Tehran had been 'slowwalking'. The programme has expanded considerably since 2018, when Trump withdrew from a multilateral agreement to constrain it in exchange for sanctions relief. In separate remarks on Wednesday, Putin once again ruled out a comprehensive ceasefire in Ukraine, claiming it would just give Kyiv time to regroup and rearm, while Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy described Moscow's peace proposals presented earlier this week as nothing more than an 'ultimatum'. Related:Operation Spiderweb: a visual guide to Ukraine's destruction of Russian aircraft The comments from both leaders confirmed negotiations in Istanbul on Monday had made no headway towards a truce, but the two sides signalled progress on other issues, including the transfer of captives and bodies. Russia said it was 'working' on the return of more than 300 Ukrainian children who the Kyiv government and the international criminal court (ICC) say were abducted by invading forces. It also confirmed there would be a prisoner exchange in the coming days, and there were continuing discussions on plans to repatriate thousands of bodies of fallen soldiers from both sides. Zelenskyy said he expected 500 PoWs to be swapped this weekend, but he said that the broader peace proposal put forward by Russia in Istanbul amounted to 'an ultimatum from the Russian side to us'. Immediately after Monday's meeting, Ukrainian officials said they needed more time to study the document handed over by the Russians, but press reports at the time said that it simply restated Russia's maximalist demand that Ukrainian forces withdraw from four regions under partial Russian occupation. Putin stated his position on Wednesday in the form of a televised virtual meeting with his aides. After being informed that Ukraine had proposed an unconditional ceasefire of 30 to 60 days, Putin asked: 'Why reward them by giving them a break from the combat, which will be used to pump the regime with western arms, to continue their forced mobilisation and to prepare different terrorist acts?' He pointed to recent Ukrainian attacks on bridges inside Russia, one of which helped cause a train crash that killed seven people. On Sunday, Ukraine also carried out a remote-controlled mass drone attack on four Russian airfields, which Kyiv claims knocked out more than a third of Moscow's heavy bombers capable of firing cruise missiles. Ukrainian officials said 41 Russian warplanes, including strategic bombers and other types of combat aircraft, were destroyed or damaged in Sunday's operation, which they claimed had taken 18 months to plan. On Wednesday, they released additional drone footage of the attack, codenamed Operation Spiderweb. Satellite photos analysed and published by the Associated Press showed aircraft wreckage and scorched areas at Belaya base, one of the four airfields targeted. It said the images showed at least three Tu-95 and four Tu-22M bombers – both capable of firing cruise missiles – had been destroyed on the runway. Other aircraft at the base appeared unscathed. In his Truth Social post, Trump said the drone attacks on Russian airfields had come up in his hour-and-15-minute conversation with Putin on Wednesday. 'We discussed the attack on Russia's docked airplanes, by Ukraine, and also various other attacks that have been taking place by both sides,' Trump said. 'It was a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate Peace. President Putin did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields.' Trump told Putin that Ukraine did not inform him before the drone attacks, a Kremlin spokesperson said. Putin also spoke on Wednesday to Pope Leo XIV, in the US-born pontiff's first call to the Russian leader since he became head of the world's Catholics last month. The Vatican said in a statement that during the call, 'the pope made an appeal for Russia to make a gesture that favours peace'. Before the Istanbul talks, Russia stepped up its aerial attacks on cities, and pushed further into Ukraine's northern region of Sumy, seizing more than 150 sq km (58 sq miles) of the area in less than two weeks, according to Russian claims and Ukrainian open-source mapping. During his election campaign, Trump claimed more than 50 times he could end the Ukraine conflict within a day, but his comments on Wednesday did not involve any calls for restraint. While Putin has ruled out a comprehensive ceasefire, Russia has suggested two- to three-day local truces on different parts of the frontline, to allow the opposing armies to collect their dead, a proposal Moscow says Kyiv has rejected. However, both sides showed on Wednesday they were ready to continue with the exchange of PoWs, the bodies of dead soldiers, and to offer some cooperation on Kyiv's priority, the return of Ukrainian children. In the televised government meeting on Wednesday, the chief Russian negotiator in Istanbul, Vladimir Medinsky, said Russia was 'working' on the return of Ukrainian children, noting that Kyiv had presented a list of 339 of them. Russia has claimed Ukrainian children were taken to Russia for their safety, while Kyiv insisted they had been abducted. The Ukrainian view was underpinned by the ICC, which issued arrest warrants in March 2023 for Putin and his 'commissioner for children's rights', Maria Lvova-Belova, for their role in the 'unlawful deportation' of the Ukrainian children. After the Istanbul meeting, Zelenskyy said the Ukrainian delegation had handed the Russians a list of nearly 400 names of abducted Ukrainian children, but claimed that Russia had only offered to resolve the cases of 10 of them. After Monday's talks, Turkey's leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, announced he wanted to host a Putin-Zelenskyy summit also involving Trump. Zelenskyy has been challenging his Russian counterpart to meet him face to face for some months. 'We are ready for such a meeting any day,' the Ukrainian leader said on Wednesday, adding it was 'pointless' to hold further talks with the midlevel Russian delegates Putin has sent to the talks – who Zelenskyy has previously dismissed as 'empty heads' – since they were not empowered to agree a ceasefire. Putin maintained his opposition to a personal meeting with Zelenskyy, however, on the grounds of the recent attacks on railways in the Kursk and Bryansk border regions, which he described as 'terrorist acts'. 'How can any such [summit] meetings be conducted in such circumstances? What shall we talk about?' Putin asked in his video call with his officials. Since Trump's return to the White House in January, European capitals have sought to take more of a leading role in bolstering Ukraine's defence, and on Wednesday, a series of military industrial support measures were announced at a meeting of the 52-country strong Ukraine Defense Contact Group at Nato headquarters in Brussels, chaired jointly by the UK and Germany.
The Guardian
3 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Ukraine war briefing: Don't be weak, Zelenskyy tells allies, after Putin threats
Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged allies on Wednesday not to show 'weakness' to Vladimir Putin, after the Russian leader threatened retaliation against recent Ukrainian strikes in a call with Donald Trump. 'If the world reacts weakly to Putin's threats, he sees that as a willingness to turn a blind eye to his actions,' Ukraine's president said. 'When he feels neither strength nor pressure, but weakness, he commits yet more crimes.' Ukrainian drone attacks hit the power grid in Russian-held parts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, cutting electricity to tens of thousands of residents, Russia-installed officials said early on Thursday. Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian-held parts of the two regions cut power to about 700,000 people earlier in the week. Russian drones struck apartment buildings in Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, triggering fires and injuring at least nine people, the city's mayor said early on Thursday. Unnamed US officials have claimed to the Reuters news agency that Ukraine's drone attack over the weekend hit an estimated 20 Russian warplanes and destroyed about 10 of them. They described the attack as highly significant. Ukraine says its 'Operation Spiderweb' – which used drones hidden on board trucks – targeted four airbases across Russia with 117 UAVS carrying bombs, hitting 41 Russian aircraft, around half of them beyond repair. Ukraine's SBU spy agency said it caused $7bn worth of damage and 34% of the strategic cruise missile carriers at Russia's main airfields were hit. More satellite photos analysed by the Associated Press on Wednesday showed seven destroyed bombers on the tarmac at Belaya airbase in eastern Siberia – one of the targets for the Ukrainian drones. The photos provided by Planet Labs PBC showed aircraft wreckage and scorched areas at the major long-range bomber base. In the images, at least three Tu-95 bombers and four Tu-22Ms appeared to be destroyed, the Associated Press assessed. Russian forces on Wednesday advanced further into Ukraine's northern region of Sumy, according to Russian officials and Ukrainian open source mapping. The authoritative Deep State map showed Russia with control over 154.4 sq km (60 sq miles) of Sumy and attacking it from different directions. Russia's defence ministry said its troops had taken the settlement of Kindrativka and were now 25-30 km (15-20 miles) from the city of Sumy, within artillery and drone range. Boris Pistorius said Germany would kick off a new initiative to find more air defences for Ukraine. The German defence minister added that they were lobbying the US and other countries for more donations of Patriot and similar air defence systems. The Netherlands said that despite the government's collapse one day earlier it would continue business as usual in foreign and security policy, including pledging a maritime support package for Ukraine worth €400m. Ukraine's allies said they were willing to pay for defence manufacturing by Ukrainian companies in allied countries, Kyiv's defence minister, Rustem Umerov, said on Wednesday after meeting his western counterparts at the Ukraine defence contact group in Brussels. Six men are on trial over an arson attack which prosecutors say was carried out on behalf of Russia's Wagner mercenary group against a business in London that shipped goods to Ukraine. Four of the group are accused of aggravated arson. Two others face charges of failing to disclose information about terrorist acts. They deny the charges. The European Commission has said more than four million Ukrainians living in the EU should have their right to stay extended until March 2027, while calling for efforts to promote voluntary returns to their home country. Jennifer Rankin writes from Brussels that while calling for the extension, the commission urged EU governments to think beyond the temporary fix by making it easier for Ukrainians to obtain other types of residence permits, such as work and student visas. It said governments should set up programmes to promote voluntary returns to Ukraine, including by supporting exploratory visits. Ukraine has discussed with the United States how to make a minerals fund operational by the end of the year and the fund's first meeting is expected in July, Yulia Svyrydenko said in Washington on Wednesday. Svyrydenko is Ukrainian first deputy prime minister and economy minister. Pope Leo urged Russia to take steps towards ending the conflict in Ukraine when he spoke to Vladimir Putin for the first time, the Vatican said on Wednesday. 'The pope made an appeal for Russia to make a gesture that favours peace, emphasising the importance of dialogue for achieving positive contacts between the parties and seeking solutions to the conflict,' the Vatican said.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Sens. Warner, Kaine say DoD needs to learn from successful Ukraine drone attacks
WASHINGTON (WAVY) — A successful attack over the weekend by Ukraine on Russian Air Force assets, planned for 18 months and using inexpensive drones, is an cautionary example for the U.S. military, say Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.). Known as 'Operation Spiderweb', Ukraine coordinated swarms of drone attacks on five Russian bases, some of which were more than 3,000 miles from Ukraine's border. Ukraine's drone attack on Russian warplanes was a serious blow to the Kremlin's strategic arsenal It called to mind the time in late 2023 when mystery drones flew over Langley Air Force Base for nearly three weeks. To this day, defense officials still have no explanation. Report: Mystery drones fly over Langley for 17 days, now DOD is looking to protect aircraft 'It was 18 nights in a row,' Kaine said in a Wednesday conference call with reporters. 'If it's night after night after night, you should be able to follow them and tell where they're coming from, so I'm not satisfied with the pace [of getting information].' It proved that drones can penetrate sensitive air space. 'We didn't have appropriate protocols in place on how you can take those drones down,' Warner said. 'We have to increase our security [at Langley AFB].' You can counteract a typical drone by jamming its navigation signal, but the Ukrainian drones had technology that could thwart countermeasures. 'They're on fiber-optic cable but it looks like somebody's got them on a fishing line,' Kaine said. 'You can get information to the drone that can't be jammed in traditional ways.' The Ukrainian operation showed budget-conscious ingenuity.'We are still buying drones that cost $20,000, $30,000, $40,000,' Warner said. But the drones that destroyed Russian aircraft 'cost of a couple hundred dollars a piece. Our constant investment in a lot of these legacy platforms is just not smart.' While the drones that flew over Langley in 2023 have never been fully explained, — The US Northern Command — is leading the investigation. Verdict is still out for origin of unauthorized drones flown over military base in Hampton, Pentagon press secretary says Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
