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Ukraine says she has completed her biggest long-distance war attack with Russia on Sunday after using smuggled drones to launch a series of large strikes of 40 Russian military plants in four military bases.
President Volodimir Zelenski said 117 drones were used in the so -called Spider’s Web operation by the SBU Security Service by hitting “34% of strategic missile carriers of (Russia).”
SBU sources have previously told BBC News that it took a year and a half to organize the strikes in which drones hidden in wooden mobile cabins, with remotely operated roofs of trucks brought near the air bases and then fired “at the right moment”.
Russia has confirmed Ukrainian attacks in five regions, calling them a “terrorist act.”
Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities have reported a massive drone and rocket attack overnight on its territory.
All this comes as Russian and Ukrainian negotiators head to Istanbul, Turkey, for the second round of peace talks on Monday.
The expectations are low as the two warring sides remain far from each other from how to end the war.
Russian President Vladimir Putin began a full -scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Moscow currently controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory, including the South Crimea Peninsula, annexed in 2014.
In several social media publications late on Sunday, Zelenski said he congratulated SBU Vasyl Maliuk leader with the “absolutely brilliant result” of the operation.
He said that each of the 117 dropped drones has its own pilot.
“The most interesting thing – and we can now say this publicly – is that the” office “of our operation on Russian territory is right next to the FSB of Russia in one of their regions,” said the Ukrainian president.
FSB is the powerful State Security Service of Russia.
Zelenski also said that all the people involved in the operation were safely “taken” by Russia before the strikes.
SBU estimated that Russia’s strategic aviation damage was worth about $ 7 billion ($ 5 billion), promising to disclose more details soon.
Ukrainian allegations were not verified independently.
Sources at SBU earlier on Sunday they told the BBC in a statement that four Russian airlines – two of which are thousands of miles from Ukraine – were hit:
- Bellaia in Irkutsk District (Region), Siberia
- Onica in Murmansk region, the extreme northwest of Russia
- Diagilevo and Central Raizan force
- Ivanovo in Central Ivanovo Oblast
SBU sources have said that the hit Russian planes are strategically nuclear bombers called TU-95 and TU-22M3, as well as the A-50 for early warning aircraft.
They described the whole operation as “extremely complex logistical”.
“For the first time, SBU smuggled FPV drones in Russia, followed by mobile wooden cabins. Once on the Russian territory, drones were hidden under the roofs of those cabins, which were placed on freight vehicles,” the sources said.
“At the right moment, the roofs were open remotely and the drones flew to hit the Russian bombers.”
Irkutsk governor Igor Kobev confirmed the drones that attacked the Belaia military base in Middle, Siberia, were fired from a truck.
Kobev posted on Telegram to say that the launch site was secured and had no threat to life.
Russian media also reports that other attacks have started in a similar way with drones arising from trucks.
One user is heard, saying that the drones were flying from the Kamaz truck near a gas station.
Russian media reported the attack in Murmansk, but said air defense was working. An attack in Irkutsk is also reported.
In a publication on social media, the Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed on Sunday that air bases in the five regions of the country were attacked.
He claims that “all attacks have been repulsed” by military airbases in the regions of Ivanovo, Raisan and Amur. The last base was not mentioned by SBU sources.
In the Murmansk and Irkutsk regions, “several aircraft are on fire” after drones were fired from nearby areas, the ministry said.
It said that all the flames were extinguished and there were no casualties. “Some of the participants in the terrorist attacks have been detained,” she added.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian authorities claim that 472 drones and seven ballistic and cruise missiles participated in a wave of attacks against Ukraine last night.
This seems to be one of the largest single Russian drone attacks so far. Ukraine says it is “neutralized” 385 air targets.
In separate development, the land military forces of Ukraine said that 12 of its military officials were killed and more than 60 were injured in a Russian missile strike at a training center.
The leader of the Land Forces of Ukraine, Major Gen Mihail Drapati, released his resignation shortly after.
He said his decision was “dictated by my personal sense of responsibility for the tragedy.”