Saturday, June 7, 2025
.svg)
A source in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) claimed that on Sunday, the agency carried out drone strikes on four military airfields in Russia, damaging more than 40 military aircraft during the operation. Targets of the Ukrainian drone strikes reportedly included the Olenya airbase near Murmansk, and the Belaya air base near Irkutsk.
The Russian Ministry of Defense stated on Telegram that “a terrorist attack using FPV drones against airfields in the Murmansk, Irkutsk, Ivanovo, Ryazan, and Amur regions” had been carried out, adding that “the fires have been extinguished. There are no casualties among military personnel or civilian personnel.” According to the Russian defense ministry, the attacks at the Ivanovo, Ryazan, and Amur locations were repelled.
SBU head Vasyl Malyuk said “According to the laws and customs of war, we have worked out absolutely legitimate targets – military airfields and aircraft that bomb our peaceful cities”. The attack targeted A-50 surveillance aircraft, strategic bombers including the Tu-22M3, Tu-95 and Tu-160, according to the BBC.
The SBU estimated that over a third of Russian Federation’s strategic missile carriers have been hit, amounting to around $7 billion in damages. While the expenditures for the operation on the Ukrainian side have not been publicly quantified, it involved 117 quadcopter drones — a figure alleged by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky — carrying relatively heavy loads, as well as relevant equipment, with each of the FPV drones controlled remotely by its own pilot, and all participants evacuated from the Russian Federation before start of the operation – the Russian drivers of the lorries were unaware of the contents and purpose of their luggage. A source speaking with CNN and briefed on the operation confirmed that the attack was carried out with usage of the Russian telecommunications networks — a small device such as a mobile phone needed to work as the communication hub, connecting the drones and related mechanisms to the remote operators. The drones were hidden inside ‘insulation’ of the roofs of the “mobile houses”, which then were placed onto trucks.
The governor of Irkutsk said that a truck coming from the backend, the drones were deployed into the area. Warplanes in Russia were also on fire at Dyagilevo and Ivanovo airfields, in central Ryazan and Ivanovo areas.
A source from the SBU told ABC News that this operation had been planned for “more than a year and a half”. According to a Trump administration official in the United States, they were not given a heads-up about the operation.
Sister links
[edit]
Sources
[edit]
- Svitlana Vlasova, Victoria Butenko, Tim Lister, Mitchell McCluskey and Helen Regan. “Ukraine hits air bases thousands of miles inside Russia in audacious military operation” — CNN, June 2, 2025
- Laura Gozzi. “How Ukraine carried out daring ‘Spider Web’ attack on Russian bombers” — BBC, June 2, 2025
- David Brennan, Victoria Beaule, Natalia Popova and Oleksiy Pshemyskyi. “Ukraine targets 4 Russian airfields in major drone attack, source says” — ABC News, June 1, 2025
- Paul Adams, Jaroslav Lukiv. “Ukraine says more than 40 Russian warplanes hit in massive drone strikes” — BBC, June 1, 2025
