Are the surprising attacks at the airport a turning point for Ukraine?

Three days on, Ukraine still absorbs the full consequences of the Spider’s Network, the mass attack on Sunday on Russia’s strategic aviation.

On Wednesday, the agency, which organizes the attack, the security service of Ukraine (SBU), released additional, bright staff from the attacks, as well as tingled glances about how the whole complex operation was performed.

The satellite images that have emerged since Sunday, showing the destroyed outlines of the aircraft sitting at the Air Base of the Air Base, Ivanovo, Diagilevo and Bellaia also helps to tell the story of the unprecedented success of the operation.

For the Ukrainian observers, the whole operation, year and A-Half in the creation remains a miracle.

“This can be considered one of the most brilliant operations in our history,” I told me Roman Poholi, founder of The Deepstate, a group of Ukrainian military analysts.

“We have shown that we can be strong, we can be creative and we can destroy our enemies, no matter how far they are.”

It is important to note that almost all the information that appeared after Sunday was issued by the SBU itself.

Red with his own success, he wants to throw the operation in the best possible light. His information campaign is aided by the fact that the Kremlin has said almost nothing.

Speaking to the media on Wednesday, after giving out medals to SBU officials involved in the operation, Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski reiterated the claim that 41 aircraft were damaged or destroyed.

“Half of them cannot be restored,” he said, “and some will take years to repair, if they can be restored at all.”

If he was in place, he added that the Spider’s network would not have happened.

The last four -minute compilation, published by SBU, shows a number of key details.

Shooted from the point of view of some of the 117 participating drones, we see Russian strategic bombers, transport aircraft and warning and air control (AWACS).

Fires can be seen raging on a number of affected planes.

For the first time, we get flashes under the wings of some of the bombers, revealing that they are already armed with cruise missiles, which Russia uses for devastating effects in its air raids on Ukraine.

Drones, many of which have flew remotely from an individual pilot sitting far in Ukraine, are carefully and precisely focused on vulnerable points, including fuel tanks located in the wings.

Some of the resulting fiery balls also suggest that the tanks were full of fuel ready for take -off.

One important section of the video shows that drones are included in two Beriev A-50s, a giant AWACS aircraft manufactured for the first time in the Soviet Union.

Of all the aircraft directed by Spider’s Spider network, A-50, with its radar capable of seeing goals and threats of more than 600 km (372 miles), is probably the most important.

Prior to the full-scale invasion of 2022, it was believed that Russia was working around nine A-50s. Before last Sunday, three, as many as three were removed or damaged by a more drone attack.

The last footage strongly suggests that drones hit the circular radar domes of the two A-50, parked in the air base of Ivanovo Severny, northeast of Moscow.

However, since the video is cut at the time of impact, it is difficult to check completely.

Satellite images that clearly show the remains of numerous bombers is unconvincing when it comes to A-50.

But Russia’s fleet from these key planes can now be reduced to four.

“The restart of the production of the A-50 is currently very unlikely because of difficulties in replacing imports and destruction of production facilities,” I told me defense analyst Sergius Kuzan.

“As such, any loss of this type of aircraft is a strategic problem for Russia, one that cannot quickly compensate.”

Earlier on Wednesday, SBU offered a brief look at another of the remarkable features on Sunday: the use of specially designed containers mounted on flat bed trucks to transport armed drones to sites close to the four Russian air grandmothers.

Two videos show a truck wearing what seems to be two wooden mobile homes, complete with windows and doors.

In one video, the roof panels are clearly visible. Reports show that they were withdrawn or otherwise removed, shortly before the attacks began, allowing dozens of drones stored inside.

It is unknown when or where the videos were filmed, although the snow is visible to the road in one assumes it may have been weeks ago or months ago.

In another video posted on a Russian telegram channel on Sunday, a police officer was seen entering the back of one of the containers as a result of the attack.

Seconds later, the container exploded, suggesting that it could be caught in bugs.

How to evaluate the impact of such a spectacular operation?

“From a military point of view, this is a turning point in the war,” Aviation expert Anatoly Gudpchinski told me.

“Because we have struck a significant blow to the image of Russia and the capabilities of the Russian Federation.”

Just over three months after Donald Trump saves Volodimir Zelenski, telling him that there are no “no cards”, Ukraine offered a definite fisherman.

“Ukraine has shown to the whole world that Russia is actually weak and cannot protect itself internally,” Gricen said.

But that doesn’t mean Russia is about to change the course.

After his last conversation with Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump said the two leaders had discussed Ukraine’s attacks.

“It was a good conversation,” President Trump published in Truth Social, “But not a conversation that would lead to immediate peace.”

“President Putin also said very strongly that he would have to respond to the recent attack on airports.”