Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent
fromkyiv, report on Ukraine
Several screengrabs of drone footage released by Ukrainian authorities on Wednesday
Three days later, Ukraine is still digesting the full meaning of Spider’s web operation, a massive attack on Russia’s strategic aviation on Sunday.
On Wednesday, Ukrainian Security Services (SBU), the agency that coordinated the attack, released additional clarity of the ongoing attack, staring closely at how the entire complex operation was carried out.
The satellite images that emerged from Sunday show the broken outlines of planes sitting in air-based tarmacs in Orenia, Ivanovo, Diaguilevo and Bellaya, helping to tell the story of the unprecedented success of the operation.
For Ukrainian observers, the entire operation, half of a year and a half, is phenomenal.
“This can be seen as one of the most amazing operations in our history,” Roman Pohorlyi, founder of Deepstate, a group of Ukrainian military analysts, told me.
“We’ve become stronger, creative and demonstrated that we can destroy our enemies no matter how far apart they are.”
It is important to note that almost all the information that emerged since Sunday has been released by the SBU itself.
It is eager to cast the operation in the best possible light, washed away with its own success. That information campaign was helped by the fact that the Kremlin had little to say.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky spoke to the media on Wednesday after handing out medals to SBU officials involved in the surgery.
“We can’t recover half of those,” he said.
Had the ceasefire been in place, he added, Spider’s web operation would not have happened.
The latest four-minute compilation released by SBU offers many important details.
We see Russian strategic bombers, transport aircraft, air warning and control (AWAC) being cornered, taken from several perspectives of the 117 drones involved.
The fire can be seen furious on many hit planes.
For the first time, we got a glimpse under the wings of the bombers, revealing that they were already armed with cruise missiles.
The drone is flew remotely by another pilot sitting far away in Ukraine, but it aims carefully and accurately at vulnerable points, including fuel tanks on its wings.
Some of the resulting fireballs suggest that the tank is full of fuel and is ready to take off.
Planet Lab/Reuters
Satellite view shows military aircraft partially destroyed at Bellaya Air Force Base on June 4th
One important section of the video shows the drones honing two Beriev A-50s, a giant AWACS aircraft first produced in the Soviet Union.
Of all aircraft targeted by Operation Spider’s Web, the A-50 has radar that allows you to see targets and threats over 600km (372 miles) away.
Before the full-scale invasion in 2022, Russia was thought to run around nine 9 A-50s. Before last Sunday, three had been fired down or damaged in a previous drone attack.
The latest footage strongly implies that the drone hit two A-50 circular radar domes parked at Ivanovo Severbaniair bases in the northeast of Moscow.
However, this is difficult to fully verify as the video feed is cut out at the moment of impact.
Satellite images that clearly show the remains of many bomber aircraft are inconclusively unconclusive when it comes to the A-50.
However, the Russian fleet of these important aircraft could now be reduced to just four.
“Resuming production of the A-50 is almost unlikely at present due to difficulties in import replacement and the destruction of production facilities,” defense analyst Serhii Kuzan told me.
“All losses of this type of aircraft thus constitute a strategic issue for Russia and cannot be compensated immediately.”
Getty Images
Satellite images are inconclusive regarding the A-50 seen here above Moscow
Earlier on Wednesday, SBU gave a brief glimpse into another feature of Sunday’s notable features. It provides the use of specially constructed containers attached to flatbed trucks and transports armed drones to sites close to four Russian air bases.
Two videos show trucks that look like two wooden mobile homes with windows and doors.
In one video, the roof panels are clearly visible. The report suggests that these were withdrawn or removed just before the attack began, allowing dozens of drones stored inside to take off.
It’s not known when or where the video was filmed, but it suggests that the snow on the side of the road could have been weeks or months ago.
Another video posted on the Russian telegram channel on Sunday saw police officers enter the back of one of the containers following the attack.
A few seconds later, the container exploded, suggesting that it could have been trapped in a booby.
SBU
SBU said the drone was hidden in a wooden cabin hidden inside the truck
How can we assess the impact of such a grand operation?
“From a military perspective, this is a turning point for war,” aviation expert Anatolii Khrapchynskyi told me.
“Because it took a major blow to the image of Russia and the capabilities of the Russian Federation.”
Three months after Donald Trump bet on Volodimia Zelensky, he said “there is no card,” Ukraine provided an emphatic Liposte.
“Ukraine shows the whole world that Russia is actually weak and unable to protect itself internally,” Krapchinsky said.
But that doesn’t mean that Russia is trying to change courses.
After his latest conversation with Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump said the two leaders discussed the Ukrainian attack.
“It was a good conversation,” Trump posted to The True Society, “but it’s not a conversation that leads to immediate peace.”
“President Putin said he has to respond to recent attacks on airfields.”
