Operation Spider's Web

Operation Spider's Web () was a covert drone attack carried out by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) deep inside Russia on 1 June 2025, during the Russo-Ukrainian War. The coordinated strikes targeted the Russian Air Force's Long-Range Aviation assets at five air bases Belaya, Dyagilevo, Ivanovo Severny, Olenya, and Ukrainkausing drones concealed in and launched from trucks on Russian territory.

It was the largest drone attack on Russian air bases up to that point in the war, employing 117 drones, according to Ukrainian officials. According to two US officials speaking to ''Reuters'', about 20 military aircraft were hit in the attack, ten of which were destroyed. Russia confirmed that the attack took place. The operation was notable for its unprecedented geographical reachspanning five oblasts across five time zones—particularly the strike on Belaya Air Base in Eastern Siberia, where damage was confirmed from Ukraine.

Preparation

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that it took 18 months and 9 days from the start of planning to execution of the operation. American and Ukrainian sources say that the United States was not informed in advance about the attacks. According to Ukrainian sources, the plan for the "extremely complex" operation was implemented by the SBU head Vasyl Malyuk and his staff, and progress was personally supervised by Zelenskyy.

The drones were simple Ukrainian-made Osa ("Wasp") quadcopters, each with a payload of just over . In Russia approximately 36 were transferred into compartments below the roofs of each of several wooden containers built to resemble regular mobile wooden cabins, which are routinely transported on flatbed trucks with the roofs uncovered. The ''Wall Street Journal'' later reported that more than 100 quadcopters had been smuggled in parts into and assembled in Russia.

The SBU published photos showing the drones being hidden under the cabin roofs inside a warehouse, later known to have been in Chelyabinsk, about 150 km north of the Russia–Kazakhstan border. The wooden sheds were loaded onto trucks, and unsuspecting Russian drivers were hired to drive each truck across Russia towards its target destination. Once the trucks were nearing their targets each driver received a phone call telling them where to stop. As soon as the truck stopped (or just before) the roof was raised by remote control and the drones took off. The drones from one of the trucks were attacked by shocked onlookers with stones and small arms fire, the only direct action taken against them.

Reuters has found the location where one truck stopped along the P-255 highway 7 km from the Belaya airbase. Citing the Baza news service, Reuters reported that Russian authorities suspect a 37-year-old Ukrainian national who had moved to Chelyabinsk and opened a freight business there in October 2024, and in December acquired several trucks, from which the drones were eventually launched. Article with details of the truck operation.

The drones were guided to their targets remotely, using the open source software ArduPilot, which supports navigation via dead reckoning. Zelenskyy said that each drone had its own pilot to launch and command it remotely. One analyst explained that the drones were operated via dead reckoning without the need for satellite navigation, making them impervious to jamming of such navigation signals. The analyst suggested that the drones were using SIM cards for digital communication and position information over local mobile telephone networks, allowing control by a pilot far away and supporting high-resolution video.

However, to counteract the time delay inevitable in communication over long distances, and cope with temporary loss of the control signal, the devices supported artificial intelligence (AI) to be used in these cases, using the latest version of technology known for many years.

The AI had to be trained in preparation for the operation to teach it to correctly identify its target aircraft and to guide the drone to its vulnerable spots. The Tu-22M3s in the Poltava Museum of Long-Range and Strategic Aviation were used for target recognition training.
Ukrainian sources said that the agents who prepared the operation on Russian territory were evacuated before the attacks began.

Strikes

As many as 117 first-person view (FPV) Ukrainian drones targeted five Russian airbases: Belaya, Dyagilevo, Ivanovo Severny, Olenya, and Ukrainka. The SBU claims to have hit more than 40 Russian military aircraft, including Tu-160, Tu-95, and Tu-22M strategic bombers, and A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft. One drone's footage showed it landing on a Tu-95 bomber's wing close to the fuel tanks; that of others soon followed. The drones attacked with very high precision; each pilot, working from Ukraine, aimed at vulnerable points such as fuel tanks in the wings. Video released by SBU show Tu-95 bombers armed with Kh-101 cruise missiles being destroyed; the large fireballs also imply that the tanks were full, suggesting that the aircraft had been prepared to conduct strikes.

Immediately following the attacks Russian officials announced a state of emergency at Engels

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