Key Points – Ukraine’s “Operation Spiderweb” on June 1st, 2025, involved a sophisticated SBU drone attack where 117 FPV drones, launched from concealed truck-borne containers deep inside Russia, struck multiple strategic bomber bases including Olenya and Belaya.
-Ukrainian President Zelenskyy claimed over a third of Russia’s strategic cruise missile carriers were hit (SBU reported 41 aircraft).
-This audacious operation, using Russian cell towers for drone control, highlights the extreme vulnerability of parked combat aircraft to cheap, innovatively deployed drones.
-This success serves as a stark warning for global militaries, including the US Air Force, to urgently implement robust passive anti-drone defenses.
Russia’s Bombers Exposed: Lessons from Ukraine’s Ingenious Drone Strike
On the first day of June, Russian and Ukrainian social media channels buzzed away, beaming pictures and video footage of drone attacks against Russian strategic bombers dispersed widely across the country.
Ukrainian drones attacked bombers parked on the tarmac at the Olenya air base in Murmansk, bordering the Finnish far north, as well as the Belaya air base in Irkutsk, and other drones were flown against targets at Ryazan, Ivanovo, and Amur.
Ukrainian drones laden with explosives and hidden in false compartments in shipping containers carried by truck rose into the sky near the bases, piloted by Ukrainian drone operators and using Russian cell towers to relay live video to the pilots. One truck’s containers burned and exploded before the car arrived at its destination.
In total, the bombing campaign, dubbed Operation Spiderweb, involved 117 First-Person-View drones and pilots.
The SBU, the Security Service of Ukraine, stated that 41 of Russia’s long-range strategic bombers had been damaged or destroyed.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky noted that this represents just over a third of all Russia’s strategic bombers.
“What’s most interesting – and this can now be stated publicly – is that the “office” of our operation on Russian territory was located directly next to FSB headquarters in one of their regions,” President Zelensky said. “And the people who assisted us were withdrawn from Russian territory before the operation, they are now safe.”
The Grinding Ground War Continues
The response from pro-Russian social media has been stark, with comparisons made to Imperial Japan’s Pearl Harbor attack in 1941. Some have called for a reaction in the form of a retaliatory attack, although little is publicly known about the location of Ukraine’s small but growing fighter force.
FighterBomber, a Russian military channel with a significant following, said that Ukrainian President Zelensky’s claim that 34 percent of Russia’s strategic bombers were destroyed was “clearly nonsense.” “But yes,” FighterBomber conceded, “even one destroyed strategic aircraft is a big loss for a country that does not yet produce such aircraft and cannot buy them anywhere.”
DeepStateUA, a Ukrainian open-source tracker of the war, wrote that the Russian rate of advance in May was the biggest rate of advance since November of last year.
Course Correction
The militaries of the NATO countries, as well as other countries around the world, are closely taking note of the evolutions in drone warfare witnessed in Ukraine, testing the technology, and evaluating the techniques.
“I really hope the USAF is taking notes,” writes Tom Shugart of The Center for a New American Security, a think tank. “Because continuing to lack robust anti-drone *passive* defenses (nets, shelters, etc.) over OUR strategic aircraft (bomber fleet, AWACS, etc.) would—at this point—constitute near-criminal negligence.”
“Imagine, on game-day, containers at railyards, on Chinese-owned container ships in port of offshore, on trucks parked at random properties, etc., spewing forth thousands of drones that sally forth and at least mission-kill the crown jewels of the USAF,” he added. “Entirely feasible IMO.”
Much ink has been spilled on the subject of aircraft security even before the recent attack, and the issue of airfield security in the Indo-Pacific is of particular importance for the United States in the event of a large-scale war in the future.
The Russian Response
Russia and Ukraine are negotiating in Turkey to find a resolution to the war. And while those negotiations are ongoing, the prospects for a peace settlement of some kind appear dim, despite recent successes the two sides have had in exchanging prisoners and servicemen and women’s remains.
Hopes for a more permanent settlement remain elusive. Parallel to the Ukrainian and Russian delegations’ meetings, Russia launched record-breaking waves of drones and missiles at cities across Ukraine. President Zelensky explained during a recent NATO meeting that he hoped the drone attack would make Russia feel the bite of equipment losses more acutely, saying, “That is what will push [Russia] toward diplomacy.”
Russia’s anticipated summer offensive seems to be underway already. Russian troops massed behind the front in Russian-controlled Donbas are making gains that, if not definitive break-throughs, are at least a serious cause for concern and something to stave off. And despite the risks, fresh troops are still being raised in Russia — around 1,000-1,500 a week, according to reports.
In the immediate aftermath of the drone attack, the question now is, will Russian President Vladimir Putin feel cajoled into finding a settlement to the war acceptable to the Ukrainian side? But the prospects for that scenario still feel quite remote indeed.
About the Author: Caleb Larson
Caleb Larson is an American multiformat journalist based in Berlin, Germany. His work covers the intersection of conflict and society, focusing on American foreign policy and European security. He has reported from Germany, Russia, and the United States. Most recently, he covered the war in Ukraine, reporting extensively on the war’s shifting battle lines from Donbas and writing on the war’s civilian and humanitarian toll. Previously, he worked as a Defense Reporter for POLITICO Europe. You can follow his latest work on X.
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