The brazen Ukrainian blitz of Russian warplanes Sunday was 18 months in the making and the Pentagon was kept in the dark until it was over, sources told Fox News.
“Operation Spider’s Web,” a series of coordinated drone strikes penetrating deep into Russian territory, is believed to have taken out dozens of Russia’s most powerful bomber jets and surveillance planes as they sat idle on five military airfields.
The stunning operation was personally overseen by President Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s security service (SBU) said.
Ukraine used small FPV drones hidden inside wooden cabins mounted on trucks. When the trucks reached their targets, the roofs opened by remote control, and the drones launched.
Videos on social media showed drones lifting off from parked trucks and striking large aircraft on the runways.
UKRAINE DESTROYS DOZENS OF RUSSIAN WARPLANES WITH DRONE ATTACK DEEP INSIDE RUSSIA
In a statement on X, Zelenskyy called the operation “an absolutely brilliant result” and said it was “achieved solely by Ukraine.”
He said the mission took “one year, six months, and nine days from the start of planning to effective execution” and described it as “our most long-range operation.” He added that “our people involved in preparing the operation were withdrawn from Russian territory in time” and thanked General Vasyl Maliuk, head of the SBU, for the success.
Zelensky said some details could not be disclosed yet but declared: “These are Ukrainian actions that will undoubtedly be in history books… Ukraine is defending itself, and rightly so.”
Russia’s defense ministry confirmed that airfields in five regions were attacked: Murmansk, Irkutsk, Ivanovo, Ryazan and Amur.
Russia called the strike a “terrorist act” but said its forces repelled the attack. Still, the ministry admitted several aircraft caught fire. Russian officials said some suspects had been arrested.
Ukraine said 117 drones were used.
The SBU claimed 34% of Russia’s strategic bombers were hit and estimated the damage at $7 billion. BBC Monitoring reported that other Ukrainian experts gave a lower estimate of $2 billion. These numbers have not been confirmed.
The attack happened just before planned peace talks between Ukraine and Russia were set to begin Monday in Istanbul, which are backed by President Donald Trump, the BBC reported.
RUSSIA LAUNCHES LARGEST AERIAL ATTACK OF UKRAINE WAR, KILLING AT LEAST 12
Ukraine says it will push for a full ceasefire, the return of captured prisoners, and the return of children taken to Russia. Those terms have not been agreed to by Russia.
The White House confirmed to Fox News that the Trump administration was not informed about the attack in advance. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who did not speak to Ukrainian officials immediately after the operation, was ultimately given a full briefing and subsequent updates, according to a senior defense official.
The officials said the blitz was highly sophisticated, and that the Pentagon is unsure whether the quadcopter drones, which were prepositioned in Russia in cabins and then offloaded into trucks, were piloted or autonomous.
U.S. officials were skeptical of reports that up to 50 Russian bombers were hit, and believed the number was likely between 11 and 15, the official said, who added it may have involved as many as five Russian airfields.
Military experts say the raid damaged Russia’s ability to launch long-range missile attacks. The bombers hit included TU-95 and TU-22M3 aircraft, which have been used in past strikes on Ukraine.
Ukraine also claimed it damaged a Russian A-50 radar aircraft, used to direct Russian air power.
BBC weapons analyst Chris Partridge said that because the drones were launched from inside Russia, air defenses like the S-300 and S-400 had little time to react.
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The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s additional request for comment.
Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.
