Video footage of yesterday’s assault means that the Ukrainian operation was most profitable at Olenya in addition to Belaya airbase in Irkutsk, practically 4,500 km from Ukraine.
Particular forces
In complete no less than 41 heavy Russian bombers have been broken or destroyed with preliminary figures inserting the fabric loss at $2bn, with some Ukrainian sources citing as much as $7bn. By some estimates a 3rd of the nation’s strategic bombers was struck by the assault.
Particulars launched by official Ukrainian channels or government-affiliated sources say that “Operation Spiderweb” was carried out by SBU particular forces and reportedly personally supervised by President Zelenskyy.
“A fully good end result. A end result achieved solely by Ukraine. One yr, six months, and 9 days from the beginning of planning to efficient execution. Our most long-range operation,” Zelenskyy stated.
Small drones
Small, FPV (first particular person view) drones positioned inside cell containers loaded onto vans have been launched in proximity to the army installations. The tactic suggests an elaborate operation inside Russia with meeting and management of the drone from inside the nation.
The Olenya base had beforehand been the goal of a extra standard massive long-range drone assault in September 2024, although with restricted success. This newest scheme as an alternative relied on a whole bunch of small drones armed with explosives. It’s not but clear if the drones have been piloted manually or have been managed autonomously by computer systems. Consultants counsel that Ukraine might have used fashions of the goal plane to coach AI to information the drones to their meant goal.
Ukraine possible needed to overcome the impediment of GPS jamming which has been reported extensively within the Excessive North usually reaching into North Norwegian airspace. Norwegian pilots regularly expertise GPS jamming within the Finnmark area, significantly when approaching and departing from airports.
Unconfirmed stories additionally point out {that a} separate assault might have occurred at Severomorsk to the northeast of Murmansk, dwelling of Russia’s Northern Fleet. Nonetheless, particulars of a potential goal stay scarce as of Monday noon with Russian officers denying any assault on Severomorsk. RBC Ukraine, the nation’s primary information company, confirmed that an explosion had taken place at Severomorsk however didn’t present extra info.
