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Inside operation Spider’s Web: How Ukraine carried out its deepest drone strike on Russian soil yet

What happens when war spills deep behind enemy lines 4,000 kilometers behind? Can drones hidden in plain sight, under truck roofs in Siberia, cripple the air force of a global superpower? And what message does such a strike send when the world is inching towards peace talks? Let's understand through this article.

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Edited By: Nishika Jha
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Russia, Ukraine

In a breathtaking and unprecedented move, Ukraine ordered a bold drone strike far into Russian territory, hitting strategic airbases thousands of kilometers behind the front lines. Operation Spider's Web, a new chapter in contemporary warfarewhere tiny flying machines and extended, secret supply lines hold the key to a global war. 

Ukraine’s covert mission that shook Russian strategic aviation

In the "most long-range operation" in the three-year conflict, as President Volodymyr Zelensky characterized it, Ukraine's security service (SBU) sent 117 drones on a tightly coordinated attack against five large Russian air bases in Murmansk, Irkutsk, Ivanovo, Ryazan, and Amur regions.

Drones camouflaged in trucks, fired from inside Russia

The SBU asserted the attack destroyed or severely damaged 41 strategic planes, including Tu-95 and Tu-22 bombers and the A-50 radar plane, with total losses estimated at $7 billion. Although Russia did acknowledge the attack on the airbases and that "several aircraft caught fire," it minimized the effect and asserted no casualties, reporting several people had been arrested in relation to the attack.

Zelensky calls it Ukraine’s most long-range operation

What sets this operation apart was the unprecedented method: drones were reportedly smuggled into Russia in advance, hidden inside wooden cabins on trucks. Their roofs opened remotely, allowing drones to launch from inside Russian territory, sidestepping long-range air defense systems. Footage shared online indicates planes on fire at the Belaya airbase in Irkutsk and the Olenya base in Murmansk, both of which are thousands of kilometers from the borders of Ukraine. This is a huge milestone for Ukrainian strike potential.

$7 billion in damage? Ukraine's boldest strike yet sparks global attention

The timing of the attack is everything. As Ukraine gears up for peace negotiations in Istanbul, supported by the United States and Turkey, this attack could tip the bargaining. While Ukraine insists on an unconditional ceasefire and the return of POWs and kidnapped children, Russia is coy about its own terms.

With the world's eyes on Istanbul, Operation Spider's Web tells a blunt message: the battlefield is not only on the front lines anymore, and the fate of the war may very well depend on the shadows behind enemy borders.

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