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Zelensky says major drone attack on Russian airfields ‘will go in history books’
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Dozens of Russian military aircraft have been destroyed in an unprecedented drone attack deep inside Russia, a Ukrainian official has said, the day before critical peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv resume in Istanbul.
Codenamed ‘spider web’, first-person view (FPV) drones were smuggled deep inside Russian territory inside trucks, before they were unleashed on multiple Russian airfields destroying more than 40 warplanes, Ukrainian security officials said.
Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the “absolutely brilliant” operation which he said destroyed one third of Russia’s strategic cruise missile carriers stationed at air bases.
Russia confirmed on Sunday that Ukraine had targeted military airfields across five regions on Sunday, causing several aircraft to catch fire – but claimed it had repelled most of the attacks.
Vladimir Putin will be “infuriated” by the “unprecedented” attack if it is as damaging as Kyiv claims, head of foreign policy at the New Eurasian Strategies Centre John Lough told The Independent, describing it as a “huge win” for Ukraine.
The attack came one day before delegations from Moscow and Kyiv sit down for direct peace talks in Istanbul at 10am UK time (1pm local time) on Monday. Ukraine’s delegation will be led by defence minister Rustem Umerov, Mr Zelensky said.
Russia launched at least 472 drones at Ukraine overnight, Ukraine’s air force said yesterday, the highest nightly total of the war so far.
The air force said in a statement that Russia had also launched seven missiles.
It added that 382 of the drones were shot down or otherwise neutralised, along with three of the missiles.
Russia has recently stepped up the amount of drones it launches at Ukraine in its regular nightly barrages.
Vladimir Putin will be “infuriated” by the “unprecedented” attack if it is as damaging as Kyiv claims, Russia expert John Lough told The Independent, describing it as a “huge win” for Ukraine that will boost morale within the military.
“It’s an embarrassment [for Russia]. It’s just another humiliation at a moment where Putin is very keen to show the Americans in particular that Ukraine is losing, and [that] it’s only a matter of time before the Russians roll them over,” said Mr Lough, head of foreign policy at the New Eurasian Strategies Centre.
Ukrainian negotiators will present to the Russian side a proposed roadmap for reaching a lasting peace settlement in Istanbul, according to a copy of the document seen by news agency Reuters.
The proposed roadmap begins with a full ceasefire of at least 30 days, to be followed by the return of all prisoners held by each side, and of Ukrainian children taken into Russian-held territory, and then a meeting between Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Under the blueprint, Moscow and Kyiv – with the participation of the United States and Europe – will work to hash out the terms on which they can agree to put a complete end to their three-year-old war, the biggest conflict in Europe since the Second World War.
Ukrainian officials said earlier this week that they had sent the blueprint to the Russian side in advance of the Istanbul talks.
Volodymyr Zelensky has hailed the “absolutely brilliant” operation against Russian warplanes, saying it will “undoubtedly be in history books”.
“A result achieved solely by Ukraine. One year, six months, and nine days from the start of planning to effective execution. Our most long-range operation,” Mr Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian agents involved in the operation were successfully extracted from Russian territory, he added.
Appearing to refer to the fact that a limited number of videos have so far been released – with analysts saying they cannot independently verify Kyiv’s claim that 41 planes were destroyed – Mr Zelensky said: “I instructed the Security Service of Ukraine to inform the public about the details and results of the operation that can be disclosed. Of course, not everything can be revealed at this moment, but these are Ukrainian actions that will undoubtedly be in history books.”
In a later post on X, Mr Zelensky claimed one third of Russian strategic cruise carriers had been destroyed.“In total, 117 drones were used in the operation with a corresponding number of drone operators involved. 34 per cent of the strategic cruise missile carriers stationed at air bases were hit. We will continue this work.”
Nato should prepare for a possible attack from Russia within the next four years, Germany’s chief of defence has told the BBC.
Russia is producing hundreds of tanks per year, which could be used for an attack on Nato Baltic state members before 2029, General Carsten Breuer said.
Nato is facing a “very serious threat” which is more significant than General Breuer has seen in his four decades of service, he told the BBC at the Shangri-la Dialogue, a defence summit in Singapore.
Russia is producing nearly 1,500 battle tanks per year, he added.
“Not every single tank is going to [the war in] Ukraine, but it’s also going in stocks and into new military structures always facing the West,” he said. “There’s an intent and there’s a buildup of the stocks.”
A source from Ukraine’s SBU security agency has claimed an airfield more than 4,000 kilometres inside Russia was struck, in what has been hailed as an unprecedented wave of drone strikes.
Here’s what the source told The Kyiv Independent about how the attack was carried out.
The SBU first transported FPV drones to Russia, and later, on the territory of the Russian Federation, the drones were hidden under the roofs of mobile wooden cabins, already placed on trucks.
At the right moment, the roofs of the cabins were opened remotely, and the drones flew to hit Russian bombers.
Currently, more than 40 aircraft are known to have been hit, including the A-50, Tu-95 and Tu-22 M3.
Volodymyr Zelensky shared details of Kyiv’s drone swarm attack that left Russia stunned with the loss, reportedly, of 40 planes, including strategic bombers.
“Today, a brilliant operation was carried out. The preparation took over a year and a half. What’s most interesting, is that the ‘office’ of our operation on Russian territory was located directly next to FSB headquarters in one of their regions,” he said in his nightly address on X.
“In total, 117 drones were used in the operation with a corresponding number of drone operators involved. 34 per cent of the strategic cruise missile carriers stationed at air bases were hit. We will continue this work.”
A Ukrainian drone attack destroyed more than 40 Russian planes deep in the country’s territory, Ukraine’s Security Service said on Sunday, while Moscow pounded Ukraine with missiles and drones just hours before a new round of direct peace talks in Istanbul.
The so-called “Spider Web” operation, carried out by Ukraine’s SBU security service, saw drones smuggled thousands of kilometres into Russian territory using lorries, before they were unleashed to destroy the aircraft, the SBU said.
In his evening address on Sunday, Volodomyr Zelensky said that 117 drones had been used in the operation. He claimed the operation had been headquartered out of an office next to the local FSB headquarters, the Russian intelligence and security service.
Former foreign secretary James Cleverly said Ukraine’s latest drone attack, which reportedly destroyed 40 aircraft deep inside Russia, showed the war-hit nation “WILL NOT GIVE UP!”
“Ukraine’s drone attack shows that those who have written them off were wrong to do so. I’ve been to Ukraine, met people at every level of society and I learned one big lesson. THEY WILL NOT GIVE UP!” he said on X.
Russia’s security service FSB thwarted an attempted arson attack on railway transportation in the far eastern region of Primorsky Krai, or Primorye, that was to be conducted on Ukraine’s order, the RIA news agency reported today.
“It was established that two 19-year-old residents of Primorsky Krai, on orders from Ukrainian special services and expecting to receive a monetary reward, committed actions aimed at setting fire to track-side relay cabinets,” RIA cited the service as saying.
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