Key Points – Ukraine’s “Operation Spider’s Web” on June 1st, 2025, executed by the SBU after 18 months of planning, involved a daring drone assault on multiple Russian airbases housing strategic bombers.
-Utilizing over 100 FPV drones smuggled into Russia and launched from concealed truck-borne containers, the operation targeted aircraft like Tu-95s, Tu-160s, and Tu-22Ms.
-Ukrainian President Zelenskyy claimed hits on 34% of Russia’s strategic cruise missile carriers, with some sources citing 41 aircraft struck and billions in damages.
-This attack, using cheap drones against high-value, irreplaceable assets, represents a significant tactical success and a blow to Russian prestige.
Cheap Drones Destroyed Expensive Russian Bombers
Ukraine’s recent strike against Russian strategic bombers across the country was a highly complex, highly successful strike campaign that damaged or destroyed dozens of Russian aircraft.
In a video posted to his official Telegram channel, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that 117 FPV drones directed by the same number of pilots struck “34% of the strategic cruise missile carriers stationed at air bases.”
Bombers Destroyed: Ukraine’s Drone Strike Makes History
It was an operation that had been in the making for many months and one that required a great deal of preparation and practice to bring to fruition. Citing a source writing the Security Service of Ukraine, Ukrainska Pravda, a Ukrainian newspaper, writes that “The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) conducted a special operation codenamed Pavutyna (Web) on 1 June 2025, striking 41 Russian strategic aircraft, following over 18 months of preparation.”
“The SSU first transported first-person view drones to Russia, then mobile wooden crates. On Russian territory, drones were concealed under the roofs of these crates, mounted on lorries,” an SSU source tells Ukrainska Pravda. At the designated time, the roofs were remotely opened and the drones took off to strike Russian bombers.”
What were those targets exactly?
Russia’s Tu-95, Tu-160, and Tu-22 long-range strategic bombers — in essence, the air-borne nuclear component of Russia’s nuclear triad. Like the United States, the Soviet Union — and now Russia — can deliver nuclear weapons from three domains: land, sea, and air.
And while Russia maintains the world’s largest nuclear arsenal, the airborne component of Moscow’s nuclear deterrent force is its weakest, undercutting the argument that Ukraine’s attack seriously increases the risk of a nuclear confrontation between Russia and the United States, NATO, or another entity in Russia’s near abroad.
Costs, Benefits — Drawbacks?
President Zelensky reportedly had a hand in the operation itself, according to those in the know. The strike was a “hugely ambitious SBU operation. According to people familiar with the attack, codenamed “Spiderweb”, it was planned more than a year and “personally supervised” by Zelensky,” Christopher Miller of the Financial Times writes.
“It used dozens of FPV drones armed with explosives that were smuggled into Russia. Photo: SBU Chief Vasyl Malyuk looks over a map of Russian targets in today’s attack.”
The cost-benefit analysis clearly favors Ukraine. “Ukraine’s drones that attacked Russia’s strategic fleet cost around $1000 . The SBU said they deployed ~160 drones. So the total cost was -$160000 (not counting trucks, logistics, and operatives risking their lives),” the Chief European Political Correspondent writes for Wall Street Journal.
“The effect: billions and billions of dollars lost for Russia. In fact, it’s impossible to even estimate the cost because assets like Tu-95 can’t be produced anymore.”
“Irkutsk, 02.06.25 — looks like the war has begun. Everyone’s being checked, no one’s being let in, roads are blocked, people are driving through fields, and all trucks are being stopped,” one online commentator wrote on X. “They’re probably scared. The action has reached Siberia.”
Clarity on the exact number of aircraft and their type that Russia lost may become more apparent in the coming days. However, aside from simply a crude tabulation of how much those aircraft cost versus the cost of the Ukrainian drones, it misses a broader point.
FighterBomber, one of the pro-Russia channels with a significant following reporting on developments in the war in Ukraine, wrote that Ukrainian President Zelensky’s claim that 34 percent of Russia’s strategic bombers were destroyed was “clearly nonsense.”
“But yes,” FighterBomber did acknowledge, “even one destroyed strategic aircraft is a big loss for a country that does not yet produce such aircraft and cannot buy them anywhere.”
Knock-on Effects
The episode has underscored what some in the United States defense establishment had already identified as a serious weakness: American airbase protection, and indeed, that of NATO allies more broadly. However, there is perhaps an added urgency in the Indo-Pacific theater.
Some talking heads have already waxed lyrical about the implications of this attack. Impressive as it is — a massive finger in the eye of the Russian bear — the attack itself is unlikely to bring Russia to the negotiating table. However, there is a scenario in which further attacks could give Ukraine leverage in future negotiations.
As a consequence of the attack, semi-trucks in Russia are lining up outside at checkpoints for their cargo to be screened and checked for bomb-bearing drones. The immediate economic consequences of the slowdown could be painful, perhaps akin to the additional airport screenings following the 9/11 attacks.
Russia’s Bombers and Drone Attack: What Happens Now?
Regardless of the exact financial breakdown of the attack, which will become more apparent in the days ahead with the benefit of additional information, the Ukrainian strike was a resounding success.
Russia was expected to launch massed, long-range strikes from large, heavily laden drones. Instead, it had to contend with multiple launches against at least five locations across the country — delivered initially by truck, of all things — conducted by small FPV drones.
The episode is as embarrassing for the Kremlin as the loss of the Moskva, the Russian Navy’s Black Sea flagship, sunk by a pair of Ukrainian-made Neptune missiles.
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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