Ukraine’s ‘Spiderweb’ drone assault forces Russia to shelter, move aircraft

Russia’s accrued consciousness of vulnerability whitethorn beryllium the astir important effect of a caller large-scale Ukrainian drone onslaught named Operation Spiderweb, experts archer Al Jazeera.

The cognition destroyed arsenic overmuch arsenic a 3rd of Russia’s strategical bomber fleet connected the tarmac of 4 airfields heavy wrong Russia connected June 1.

Days later, Russia started to physique shelters for its bombers and relocate them.

An unfastened root quality (OSINT) researcher nicknamed Def Mon posted time-lapse outer photographs connected societal media showing large excavations astatine the Kirovskoe airfield successful annexed Crimea arsenic good arsenic successful Sevastopol, Gvardiyskoye and Saki, wherever Russia was constructing shelters for subject aircraft.

They reported akin enactment astatine respective airbases successful Russia, including the Engels base, which was targeted successful Ukraine’s attacks connected June 1.

Another OSINT analyst, MT Anderson, utilized outer images to amusement that each Tupolev-95 strategical bombers had near Russia’s Olenya airbase successful the Murmansk portion by June 7.

Much of the fleet remains intact but Ukraine “demonstrated to Russia that they bash not person a sanctuary immoderate much connected their ain territory”, said Minna Alander, a chap with the Transatlantic Defense and Security Programme astatine the Center for European Policy Analysis.

“In presumption of taking the warfare to Russian territory, it was adjacent much important than the Kursk incursion successful the consciousness that Ukrainians managed to deed targets of precocious strategical worth thousands of miles from the beforehand lines.”

Ukraine conducted a counterinvasion of Russian territory successful August, catching forces successful Kursk off-guard and seizing territory. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has consistently argued that the warfare indispensable instrumentality to Russia. Both the Kursk violative and Spiderweb served that purpose.

A outer presumption shows subject aircraft, immoderate sitting destroyed, astatine the Belaya aerial base, adjacent Stepnoy, Irkutsk region, Russia, connected June 4, 2025, aft Ukraine launched a drone onslaught [Planet Labs PBC/Handout via Reuters]

For the archetypal time, Ukraine with its Operation Spiderweb claimed to person deed the Olenya airbase successful the Russian Arctic, astir 2,000km (1,240 miles) from Ukraine, wherever each Tu-95 bombers were reported destroyed.

Also reportedly struck were the Belaya airbase successful Irkutsk, much than 4,000km (2,485 miles) from Ukraine; the Dyagilevo airbase successful Ryazan, lone 175km (110 miles) from downtown Moscow; and the Ivanovo airfield, 250km (155 miles) northeast of Moscow, wherever a uncommon aboriginal informing and targeting coordination A-50 radar craft was destroyed.

Russia had historically based its strategical bombers astatine the Engels basal successful Saratov and the Ukrainska basal successful Amur province. It dispersed them to Belaya and Olenya bases successful the past 2 years to support them aft Ukraine struck the Engels basal with drones. Now Ukraine has again deprived Russia of immoderate consciousness of security.

“These strategical bomber strikes were ‘asymmetric genius’,” said Seth Krummrich, a erstwhile US service colonel and vice president of Global Guardian, a information consultancy. “Cheap drones smuggled heavy into Russia destruct priceless and uncommon Russian strategical bombers. Ukraine is outthinking and outmanoeuvring the dilatory and ample Russian military.”

Three days earlier Operation Spiderweb, Zelenskyy had said helium was seeking much European concern successful Ukraine’s long-range capabilities.

“Of course, we cannot publically disclose our existing plans and our capabilities, but the imaginable is clear: to respond symmetrically to each Russian threats and challenges,” Zelenskyy said. “They successful Russia indispensable intelligibly consciousness the consequences of what they are doing against Ukraine. And they will. Attack drones, interceptors, cruise missiles, Ukrainian ballistic systems – these are the cardinal elements. We indispensable manufacture each of them.”

Ukraine has already changed Russian menace perceptions respective times during this warfare utilizing long-range weapons, often targeting the Russian aerial force.

In 2023, Ukraine started striking Russian airfields successful occupied Crimea, forcing Russia to relocate its bombers.

An unnamed White House authoritative told Politico past twelvemonth that “90 percent of the planes that motorboat glide bombs” against Ukrainian front-line positions person been moved backmost wrong Russia.

Ukraine has dealt Russia akin intelligence blows astatine sea.

In 2022, it sank the Black Sea Fleet flagship Moskva utilizing Neptune missiles. Its consequent improvement of aboveground drones to onslaught different Russian Black Sea Fleet ships has forced the Russian navy to wantonness Crimea for the structure of Novorossiysk.

In December, Ukraine adapted those aboveground drones to motorboat rockets, downing 2 Russian helicopters adjacent Crimea. In aboriginal May, its Magura-7 unmanned aboveground drones successfully downed 2 Russian Sukhoi-30 combatant jets utilizing AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles primitively designed for air-to-air use. No subject successful the satellite had downed combatant jets from aboveground drones before.

“Russian missiles successful galore cases person ranges of thousands of miles. The bombers don’t request to travel anyplace adjacent Ukraine to bash what they do. The Arctic was a large basal for attacking Ukraine adjacent though they’re thousands of kilometres from Ukraine,” said Keir Giles, Eurasia adept astatine the Chatham House deliberation tank.

Spiderweb progressive 117 drones smuggled into Russia and launched simultaneously adjacent Russian airfields wherever the bombers were parked.

The drones utilized the Russian cellphone web but were controlled from Ukraine, Giles said.

“So they were piggybacking [on the vigor network] and hiding successful noise. They indispensable person had radical connected tract due to the fact that they had an operational readying based successful the state to assemble these components. … People were agelong gone by the clip the cognition happened, leaving poor, hapless Russian motortruck drivers trying to fig retired what was going on,” helium said.

On June 11, Russian President Vladimir Putin enactment connected a brave face, saying his state possesses the astir modern atomic triad successful the world, but that whitethorn person been bluster alternatively than a threat, experts said.

“Ukraine apt destroyed the astir operational conception of the fleet, evidenced by the information that these craft were not undergoing attraction astatine the clip of the attack,” wrote Fabian Hoffman, a rocket expert. “Some were adjacent fuelled erstwhile hit, indicating they were apt scheduled for usage wrong the adjacent 24 hours.”

Will specified strikes triumph the war? “The cornerstone of this combat remains an infantryman’s bullets, artillery shells, armour, and each the vehicles and transports logistically required to enactment a immense beforehand enactment successful a antiaircraft war,” Krummrich said. “Yes, drones importantly facilitate manoeuvre warfare successful this conflict, but the drone does not triumph the fight.”