Enemies Are Not Big or Small

On June 1, Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) managed to carry out a daring operation - a series of coordinated strikes by FPV drones on 4 airfields of Russian aircraft based deep in the Russian rear. In total, more than 40 aircraft were hit at Belaya Air Base in Irkutsk region, Olenya Air Base in Murmansk region, Dyagilevo Air Base in Ryazan region, and Ivanovo Air Base in Ivanovo region. Russia used all these bases to attack Ukrainian cities. In particular, strategic bombers Tu-95 and Tu-22M3, which capable of carrying nuclear warheads, were disabled.

Thus, the Ukrainians destroyed or damaged 34% of Russia's strategic cruise missile carriers. SBU claims that the Russians suffered damages of about $7 billion.
Also SBU informed that they "... first transported FPV drones to Russia, and later, on the territory of the Russian Federation, the drones were hidden under the roofs of mobile wooden cabins, already placed on trucks… At the right moment, the roofs of the cabins were opened remotely, and the drones flew to hit Russian bombers."
The planning and preparation of the operation which was called “Spiderweb” took 1.5 years.

One third of Russian most effective tool of terror is out of action.

It appears that this attack came as a complete surprise to the Russians, probably due to the significant distance of the airfields from Ukraine (up to 2.5 thousand miles).

The Russians are using land-based missile systems (like “Iskander”), ships in the Black and Caspian Seas, and aircraft to launch missile attacks on Ukrainian cities. Iskander missiles are quite expensive, and Russia's Black Sea Fleet was driven out of Crimea by Ukrainian naval drones, so Russian air strikes on Ukraine with relatively inexpensive missiles have become a very effective weapon against civilians.
And now about a third of Russia's strategic cruise missile carriers are out of action.

Reactions to the event.

The Russians tried their best not to pay attention to yet another slap in the face from “almost defeated” Ukraine.
The Russian Defense Ministry stated that the attack set several warplanes ablaze at air bases in the Irkutsk region in eastern Siberia and the Murmansk region in the north, but the fires were extinguished.

Mr. Putin, as usual, did not react to Russia's big failure.

The successful operation of the SBU also had no effect on the parties' positions at the talks in Istanbul on June 2. Mr. Putin again sent a low-level delegation with his old demands, and the parties agreed only to continue the prisoner exchange. There was no need to go to Istanbul for that, but Mr. Putin wanted to show some desire for peace.

Interestingly, Mr. Trump also said nothing personally about the Ukrainian operation, which is extremely rare for him. Instead, his attitude to the event was outlined by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt: "The reaction (of Mr. Trump – I.C.) is this war needs to come to an end. This war has been brutal from both sides, and too many people have died."

As CNN correctly writes, Mr. Trump’s “... own insistence on ending the Ukraine conflict, along with his personal interventions with the Ukrainian and Russian leaders, means that Trump and the United States are now inextricably linked with the outcome.”
That’s why Mr. Trump can't just walk away.
On the other hand, the longer he tries to persuade Mr. Putin to cease fire, the funnier and more helpless Mr. Trump (and the US) looks. This is the price Mr. Trump (and the US) pays for his obvious lies and boasting.

Ukrainian President touted the “absolutely brilliant result” of the SBU operation which was “achieved solely by Ukraine ” and stressed: “Ukraine is defending itself, and rightly so — we are doing everything to make Russia feel the need to end this war. Russia started this war, Russia must end it.”

The world media actively commented on the daring and effective operation of the Ukrainians.
Dr. Michael MacKay of the London School of Economics correctly noted: “By destroying a significant number of strategic bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons — used by the Russian terrorist state — Ukrainian forces made the world much safer."
Indeed, the Ukrainian operation reduces the risk of possible Russian strikes on other countries. If there are no bombers, then the nuclear warheads will simply lie in warehouses in Russia and God knows when there will be an enemy's sabotage there.

The attack on the Russian airfields showed that weaker adversary can organize a big problem and large and strong state is practically unable to defend itself from it, or it is forced to constantly spend huge money to prevent such actions which still does not guarantee the security.


P.S. In addition, on June 3 Ukraine blew up the Kerch Bridge in Crimea which is very important for Russia. The SBU reports about underwater explosion of around 1 ton of TNT equivalent and stoppage of traffic on the bridge, continuing to stun both of the main newsmakers - Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin - again.

It turns out Mr. Trump was wrong about Ukraine: it still has some cards to play!