Strong and smoke from a large fire interrupts the lunch of Olenegorsk in the Russian north ,. Immediately the Russian and Ukrainian channels on the Telegram “fire” from dozens of reports that the city is being attacked by. Eyewitnesses say they take off from large trucks parked in a gas station parking lot.
At about the same time, explosions are also shocked by the village of Srendny, in the Irkutsk region, Siberia. And there the inhabitants say they see drones rising from a truck stopped on the road.
The blows
A few hours later that he launched a coordinated attack on four Russian air bases: Olneia in the Mourmank District in the Arctic Circle, Bellagia in Siberia, which is 4,000 kilometers from the border with Ukraine, as well as Diagi.
The bold operation called “” was organized by the Ukrainian Security Service for the last one and a half years, with the aim of hitting the Russian Air Force fleet. According to the information of Ukrainian media, service executives first sent about 120 drones to Russia and then wooden houses, on the ceilings of which the unmanned aircraft were installed. Trucks carried the houses near the air bases and at the right time the drones were activated remotely with the aim of Russian bombers.
According to a NATO expert survey, the “Spider Web” operation was the most important Ukrainian attack on Russian military infrastructure since the beginning of the war. Their estimation is that the Ukrainian drones hit more than 40 Russian strategic bombers and destroyed 10-13 of them.
Most are TU-95 and TU-22M3 bombers, but they also hit an A-50 aircraft-experts estimate that the number of aircraft in the Russian air fleet does not exceed five. The TU-95 performs most of the Russian missile attacks on Ukraine, as they can carry a significant number of Cruise missiles.
Analysts estimate that even if they have not been destroyed, the repair of the damage they have suffered will be out of service for years, mainly due to international sanctions imposed on Russia. TU-22M3 tules carrying ultrasonic rockets are considered irreparable, as experts according to experts are very difficult to repair.
It is also estimated that they have suffered severe damage to strategic TU-160 bombers under the nickname “White Swan” and AN-12 transport aircraft, which makes it difficult to refuel Russian troops.
Ukrainian agent
Russian channels in Telegram describe the 37-year-old Ukrainian as a Keyword Artilim Timofoevowner of the shipping company to which the trucks belonged. The Russian authorities have launched a manhunt for his location, while information wants him to flee to Kazakhstan with his wife, four days before the attacks. According to reports, while he lived in Ukraine, Timofegev was a DJ and then set up clothing craft. He was politicized and in 2013 he was actively involved in the demonstrations against the pro -Ukraine president, Viktor Yanukovych, who led to his overthrow.
Timofegev later settled in the Russian city of Celiabinsk, 1,800 km east of Moscow, where he founded the shipping company, with its headquarters opposite the Russian security service offices, as revealed by Ukraine President Voltimir.
Two of the truck drivers pointed to Timofegev as the man who organized the routes and commissioned them to carry wooden structures. When the trucks came close to the air bases, drivers say they received calls from an unknown Russian number and that they were asked to stop. At that moment, truck ceilings were opened, drones took off almost simultaneously and flew to military airports where they hit the valuable Moscow aircraft, some of which have the ability to carry nuclear missiles.
A total of 34% of Russian strategic aircraft carrying Cruise -type rockets were destroyed, which, since the beginning of the invasion, have launched more than 3,000 such missiles against non -military targets and infrastructure in Ukraine, the North Atlantic is estimated. As its senior executives say, this complex business highlighted Russia’s vulnerabilities “At a time when Putin thinks he wins the war”. Moscow disputes the claims that Ukraine has been able to destroy its strategic bombers, saying they have suffered damage that could be repaired.
On the contrary, US officials, citing elements of the intelligence services, report that Ukrainian drones have fired 20 Russian aircraft, 10 of which were completely destroyed and the other 10 have suffered serious damage.
Moscow’s response
Meanwhile, in his first statements, four days after the attacks, the Russian president made no mention of them, which analysts attribute to his consistent tactic of not publicly discussing Russia’s weaknesses. THE Vladimir Putin It seems that in the wake of attacks. Answering a question, the Kremlin’s representative, Dmitry Peskovstated that Moscow would like to hear the Donald Trump condemn the blows to the air bases. He added that the US president informed Putin that Washington had not been informed of Kiev’s plans.
US press reports point out that the otherwise lacquered Trump has not publicly commented on the “spider web” operation. However, in private discussions, the US president expressed his admiration as “strongly strong” and “unspeakable”.
At the same time, Moscow responded with a rocket barrage to the sabotage of Kiev, launching it to Ukraine since the start of the war.
