The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) reported that the June 1 “Spider Web” drone operation caused approximately $7 billion in damages and disabled 34% of cruise missile bombers in key Russian airbases.
The agency confirmed that more details about the attack will be revealed later.
“And you thought Ukraine was easy? Ukraine is exceptional. Ukraine is unique. All the steamrollers of history have rolled over it. It has withstood every kind of trial. It is tempered by the highest degree. In today’s world, its value is beyond measure,” the SBU wrote, quoting Ukrainian poet Lina Kostenko.
They also vowed to continue to drive Russian forces out of Ukrainian territory.
This moment in history is akin to the introduction of airplanes and aircraft carriers. It’s a whole paradigm shift. The future of war is drones. God help us if WW3 breaks out.
A few years before WWI, Russia had a disastrous war against the Japanese, whom they had considered an inferior, small opponent that would be defeated quickly.
Time is a flat circle.
LMFAO
fuck war planes and fuck Russian Bombers especially
killing a war plane guarantees you a place in Valhalla BTW, but you’d better hurry up, killing war planes is all the rage right now
Even if it wasn’t the 40 planes claimed, even if it’s only the 5 we saw in the video , this is huge. Now Russia has to move MORE anti air assets, and more men, to these airfields and away from the front. Some bombers will be moved farther away, reducing the pace of operations. And if they have to start building bunkers for their big bombers that’s tens of thousands of tons of concrete not going to buildings fortifications on the front lines. Not going to road repair. Not going to factories. And that’s thousands of workers not doing other, more productive things. The success of this operation cannot be overstated
they also hit vladivostok.
on the other side of the continent. all the way from europe to the end of asia.
SLAVA UKRAINE, goddamn
Did they hit that city in the same operation? Care to share any sources?
lots of shit behind paywalls :|
TWZ has some excellent coverage of the event with nary a paywall.
https://www.twz.com/news-features/what-we-know-about-ukraines-mass-drone-assault-on-russian-bombers
TY!
tho no mention of vladivostok in that link, which I think was the purpose of the person I replied to
According to a Kyiv Independent SBU source, first-person-view (FPV) drones were covertly transported deep into Russian territory and hidden inside trucks before being launched against four major airfields.
Holy shit that’s embarrassing. I mean, those operatives are going to have to flee to Japan to in order to get home, but wow. That’s incredible.
I love the great news of Ukraine beating Putin’s sorry behind - and how that development is spreading to many other news sources.
Slava Ukraini!
How I wish that the general Russian population would know more about it.
I live in a place full of Russians. Trust me, they know. The official state media tries to cover it up, but it’s getting harder and harder. Most Russians know, they just can’t talk about it publicly without risking prison. But Putin’s days are numbered.
And what you have them know? Putin has prosecuted his propaganda in Russia exactly as he had in the West.
Russians think any and all news is bullshit, no source is to be trusted. And look what we have in America today. Huh.
It’s a weird sensation to stick to this as someone so far away, but I feel plain proud of all the Ukrainian forces that made this happen so successfully.
A few more of those, and Russia has to walk and throw stones.
They already are. So what is the next step after?
Apparently, the Russians moved a lot of their best bombers far from the front when they realized they were exposed to strikes, so Ukraine hit them with some James Bond, 4D chess operation they’d been planning for a year and a half.
Those bombers had been terrorizing Ukrainian cities, destroying defensive fortifications, and are a key part of the Russian nuclear threat.
Whatever weapons and money everyone is sending Ukraine, double it.
If a Republican crippled a historic enemies military without a single soldier dying and did so using a fraction of the US military budget they would put him on Mt. Rushmore, but since Biden did it they, and the entire media apparatus, called him a bumbling fool and senile.
Just like how Reagan gets credit for ‘ending the Cold War’ when a ton of the legwork for that was put in place by Kennedy, Eisenhower, (yes Nixon too), and LBJ and Carter.
Biden has flaws, and I wish Biden really did more to help Ukraine in the beginning of the war, but him helping out and clearing so much equipment to them was a genuinely good thing that he did while in office.
Whatever weapons and money everyone is sending Ukraine, double it.
Freaking truth.
Side thought purely as a hypothetical from a civilian standpoint: I’m wondering if it’s too paranoid to consider figuring out how to smoothly use Monero for sending donations.
I’m wondering if records of sending aid to Ukraine will be the newest excuse to get disappeared by goons in the US, the same way they’ve been crushing the Constitutional rights of anyone who prominently voices anti-zionist dissent.
Apparently the FOB for the Ukrainians was next door to a FSB post
They shared the same Starbucks
What is less conspicuous than sleeping right next to your enemy.
Starbucks still operate in Russia?
It’s a fake Starbucks like the fake McDonald’s apparently
Are we sure that these were the aircrafts shooting the bombs?
Dont get me wrong, i hope they were and every Russian plane that goes up in flames is good, i just want to be really happy if there is some proof those were the actual planes that Ruzzia was using.
They’re heavy strategic bombers, like a full size commercial jet, they don’t have a lot of them and they could use more. So yes, these were definitively used to bomb Ukraine.
What does it matter in the end? Russia doesn’t say these bombers and only these bombers are for bombing Ukraine and if they get destroyed we’ll stop bombing Ukraine even though we have other bombers available. They’ll use whatever capacity they have, so any reduction in that capacity is a win.
Ukraine did this with $500 drones. No infantry. No tanks or fighter jets.
Ukraine doesn’t have the numbers to continue this war, less they want to start drafting 18 year olds.
As much as I want to send them more money and arms, I want a ceasefire and end. Ukraine has lost enough, and they deserve peace.
I doubt Russia will agree to any peace talks though. And it’ll be tough to replicate Operation Spiderweb now that Russia knows how it was conducted.
Such a tragic fucking state of affairs
Russia is already sending children in their military and uses donkeys and stolen civilian vehicles for supply.
The fate of ukraine is in our hands, but its their decision what they will give to resist the orks.
You forget that russia is deeply corrupt. This type of operation can be done again.
Getting some inspiraton from hogans heros is good /j
i take hope from the fact that since the war begun people have been saying ukraine has no chance, and yet here we are with ukraine still existing and independent… i guess when you’re defending your home you can pull some pretty impressive manoeuvres out of nowhere that people hadn’t accounted for
Russia is so incompetent I’m sure Ukraine could execute something similar several times again.
their ICBM fleet is poorly maintained - both land based and submarine launched; this event is a solid kick in the strategic nutsack.
SLAVA UKRAINE!
And a lot of the planes that were hit literally can’t be produced in Russia any more, to further rub it in.
Tell me more!
Good.
Fuck yeah!
Genuine question, what is the end game objectively do you think? Rdors Russia retreat unable to carry the war and then recoil into a depression economy? I seriously don’t see Ukraine slowing down at all. The longer this goes on it seems like Russia takes one step and Ukraine takes 1.2 steps forward.
Most likely ends when Putin loses the loyalty of the top brass and oligarchal mobsters. This attack goes a long way to having the question being asked, surely there has already been hushed tones, if this is the fight they want to ruin Russia for. They have been successful in terms of land gains, not to any great value - ~20% after 12 years is embarrassing. They have lost a lot of goodwill, marketability, economic growth not to mention brain drain, population etc., and they are now facing budget cuts because of oil prices.
Or Putin dies of natural causes. Which isn’t too farfetched. Then the oligarchs find themselves a Deng Xiaoping-like figure who says “ok, all that was bad, let’s do something else”.
Probably, Russia will have to face the facts that they can’t build their own fighter jets, bombers, tanks, or fighting ships larger than a destroyer anymore. Not on the scale they need. Even if you assume some of the designs they’re putting out are good (a big assumption), they can’t possibly build them at scale. China is sitting right over there with the factories for those things. Xi Jinping will be happy to take their check, but will make sure it clears first.
They could just leave and this would all stop. Putins bitch ass knows how to stop this.
At this point, Putin can’t stop. Weird that everyone acts like he has a choice.
Putin committed to this play, and then went all-in when it didn’t play. Three years later, Russia is relying on a rickety, unstable, wartime economy, suffering more and more sanctions. If he pulls out, the whole house of cards comes tumbling down, utter ruin. Which would be fine by me. Fuck Russia.
Doesn’t mean he can’t do it. It’s not like he’s concerned about what happens after his death
I see the two as linked (stopping the war and him falling out of that dangerous window of his) so he has every incentive to keep the war going
He could just hide in a bunker! Nothing bad have ever happened to a country leader that lost a war in a bunker! /s
To be honest plenty of bad things happened to a country leader that lost a war outside of a bunker.
Just look at Mussolini’s death
Think of the memes!
Like all the hidden Saddam diagram memes but even better. Lol!
Putin falling out of a bunker window would be a great meme of the year.
Why is there a window in a bunker? Why not?
He could declare victory and go home. Brag that he forced Ukraine into talks and that he stopped Ukraine from joining NATO and got some small land gains.
And crash his wartime economy? Well, yes, he does have the choice of blowing his own brains out, but most of us don’t consider that a choice.
How much will having only 2/3 of their bomber fleet constrain Russia’s ability to wage war?
Depending on fuel availability and other obligations, it opens them up to some severe implications to enterprising forces. Logistically they must either weaken other theaters (like say Syria or Georgia or Kyrgyzstan) by flying them to replace the lost craft, or simply accept a weakened position with air power over Ukraine. (Assuming all are in service and none are reserve)
Even more so, Russian command will have to gauge if Ukraine is able to replicate this, and how often. If another strike like this is deemed not only possible but imminent, they will have to start using an airbase even further from the front, driving fuel costs up to deliver the same payloads. Additionally, increased flight time means less chance the target will be caught unprepared for your arrival and allows more time to relocate mobile AA to respond to your (now much longer and obvious) flight path.
Edit: The TU-95 (the nuclear capable bigboi) has a fuel range of 15k km (9300mi) so these were already well within range, just flight times will be longer.
Ukrainian AA can’t reach these bombers because these were used as launching platforms for long range missiles over Caspian, relocating SAM sites does nothing. Also it’s likely that what was hit were good planes, some of which were even fitted with Kh-101 cruise missiles at the time of attack, and part of what is left are planes under maintenance. It could be so that only third or less of long range bombers are usable now, which would most obviously increase wear on them in immediate future
Moving further away likely won’t deter Ukraine. The Russians will need to start surrounding their airfields with a lot more, and better, defensive capabilities. The question is whether they have the ability to do that or not.
You get it, brother.
This actually has huge implications for the war in general. Russias nuclear triad just had the dick blown off of it,
I’d be willing to wager that this was most, if not all the active bombers being used in the Ukrainian theatre. If they are following a loose rule of 3rds with their birds (deployed and flying missions, being prepped for deployment, shut down receiving repairs/overhauls), this very well could severely limit Russia’s ability to keep up their cruise missile bombardment.
If that’s the case, that frees up Ukraine to be much more flexible with their air defenses.
Not to mention if they were able to pull off a mission like this, allegedly using cell towers to fly their drones, what’s stopping them from doing similar limited missions to tank factories, recruit depots, and other places that are further away from the front? Literally all of these targets now become viable because they will be much less heavily guarded than the nuclear triad bombers.
Protecting those assets pulls material and meat from the front lines, which further helps Ukraine.
I can’t help but see this as a massive positive swing in momentum for Ukraine.
The big change will be if they can’t fire as many missiles at once then they can’t use the saturation technique that lets them get past AA. A bunch of missiles fired over a longer period of time are less effective.
Totally. This is fucking huge for the war.
Not to mention if they were able to pull off a mission like this, allegedly using cell towers to fly their drones, what’s stopping them from doing similar limited missions to tank factories, recruit depots, and other places that are further away from the front? Literally all of these targets now become viable because they will be much less heavily guarded than the nuclear triad bombers.
I assume the cell tower thing was exploiting an oversight or other vulnerability that can only be exploited once before Russia plugs the hole. Maybe they can do it again but it would be relying on enemy incompetence, which is in plentiful supply these days but still not a good idea to rely upon.
Could be. It could also be as simple as using an actual Russian phone, and having an app on the phone that flies the drone.
We don’t know, and I don’t want to know so they can keep doing it.
Practically not that much, but the point is to inflict huge monetary costs and erode public support among Russians to continue the conflict. So from that perspective this is a pretty good bargaining chip going into further negotiations.
And to make Russian forces worry that any cargo container within a couple miles of a sensitive area could pull over and have a bunch of drones pop out of it.
I think Ukraine can only pull off a big attack like this a few times. Not because they’re incapable, or Russia, now aware of the method, can defend against it, but because each attack generates data. The more data you have, the greater the ability to analyze and spot patterns, which puts Ukrainian operators at risk.
Although it would be excellent if another attack happened very soon against another relatively irreplaceable Russian asset. But a campaign of smaller scale harassment throughout the country would suffice to harm morale and keep supply constraints, well, constrained.
Presumably the other 2/3’rds are operational. Presumably.
We’ll have to see how much of their previous pace they can keep up. In any case, every military that can, keeps some things in reserve. What’s the likelihood that the ones in storage are still there and not gutted for parts that got sold for vodka?
The US keeps their reserve in Arizona but it isnt a quick, easy, or cheap process to reactivate a plane depending on how it is stored. We have pulled two B-52s out of storage in the last decade as replacements after a ground fire and a crash. One took 19 months and the other took 12+ months.
Just as well they didn’t let the US (AKA as Putin’s bitch) know about it beforehand
Oh yeah. The US leadership is filled with Russian assets and Putin playthings.
I don’t think it’s because Trump is a Russian asset which is why they haven’t told the White House, but because Ukrainians have had bad experience with their plans being leaked before. The 2023 Ukrainian offensive failed because the Russian knew they were coming, and everyone including the media and their mothers shouted it across the rooftops for weeks. Back then, I thought “isn’t this a bad idea to report it on the media”? But then I am an armchair analyst so I guess the Ukrainians and Bidem knew what they were doing (turns out they didn’t). Since then, Ukrainians choose to hide their intentions.
Edit: incorrect year
The 2022 offensive failed because there wasn’t enough support. Ukraine was saying they needed X tanks, shells, guns, whatever from the West, and they actually got around X/3. Even with that, they very nearly made it far enough that Crimea would have been logistically cut off. Russia would have either needed to come to terms or else Crimea literally and metaphorically starves.
There isn’t really a way to hide what you’re doing. You have to build up forces at your bases, move a lot of material, etc. The timing wasn’t going to be a surprise, either, because local seasonal weather changes put a demand on when you do things.
The Ukrainians were far from cutting off Crimea in 2022. They barely made it like 5-10 kilometres? And unfortunately, the area they recaptured is being slowly grounded away by Russian counterattacks in the past two years. The Ukrainians were hoping that Russia at the time haven’t learned their lesson and could replicate Ukrainian rapid offensive in Kharkiv in autumn of 2021.
The surprise Ukrainian offensive into Kursk proved you can hide your intentions. It isn’t like Ukraine haven’t learned their lesson beforehand. Speaking of which, the incursion wasn’t told to the White House either when Biden was president.
It didn’t need to be far.
Artillery range is around 70km. You need to get that close to the southern most road along the coast into Crimea, and a little more for padding some defense. Now you can turn that road and anything on it into rubble whenever you want.
Ukraine got within a few km of doing that at some areas.
The Kerch Strait Bridge could be hit whenever by a missile. Ukraine had already hit it by then.
There’s a port at Sevestapol. It’s also been hit by Ukranian missiles before, and even if not, it’s not enough on its own.
Airplanes expend lots of fuel for not much cargo. You’re not going to supply Crimea that way.
There would be no logistical options left for Russia. Holding those couple of km more would starve it out. Only question is if Putin tries to hang on out of stubbornness.
