“SPIDER’S WEB”
Zelenskyy on Sunday hailed “brilliant” results of the coordinated attack, code-named “Spider’s Web”, which he said had used 117 drones and was the country’s “most long-range operation” in more than three years of war.
Russia’s defence ministry confirmed on Telegram that several of its military aircraft “caught fire”, adding that there were no casualties.
Rybar, an account on the Telegram message platform that is close to the Russian military, called it a “very heavy blow” for Moscow and pointed to what it called “serious errors” by Russian intelligence.
The SBU source said the strikes targeted Russian airbases in the eastern Siberian city of Belaya, in Olenya, in the Arctic near Finland, and in Ivanovo and Dyagilevo, both east of Moscow.
The operation was prepared for over a year and a half, the SBU source said, and aimed to destroy “enemy bombers far from the front”.
Zelenskyy said one of the targeted locations was right next to one of the offices of the FSB Russian security services.
“FIRST SUCH STRIKE ON SIBERIA”
Russia said it had arrested several suspects, including the driver of a truck from which a drone had taken off, state agencies said.
But Zelenskyy said people involved in preparing the attacks were “extracted from Russian territory in time”.
Igor Kobzev, governor of Russia’s Irkutsk region, which hosts the Belaya airbase, said it was “the first attack of this sort in Siberia”.
He called on the population not to panic and posted an amateur video apparently showing a drone in the sky and a large cloud of grey smoke.
RUSSIA DRONE STRIKES
Russia has been announcing Ukrainian drone attacks on a near-daily basis, usually saying they had all been shot down.
At the same time, Russia has been carrying out constant attacks on Ukraine.
On Sunday, Ukraine’s air force said it was hit by 472 Russian drones and seven missiles overnight, a record number since the beginning of the invasion in February 2022.
In a rare admission of its military losses, the Ukrainian army said Russia’s “missile strike on the location of one of the training units” had killed a dozen soldiers, most of whom had been in shelters during the attack, and wounded more than 60.
The attack led Ukrainian ground forces commander Mykhailo Drapaty to announce his resignation, saying he felt “responsibility” for the soldiers’ deaths.
Separately on Sunday, the Russian army said it had captured another village in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region, where Kyiv fears Moscow could mount a renewed ground assault.
