Ukraine Makes History, Destroying $7 Billion of Russia’s Most Prized Aircraft in One Day
In what is now clearly a landmark special operation, more than 40 Russian military aircraft were damaged or destroyed in coordinated strikes on airbases across Russia today, in an assault that appears to have redefined the range and sophistication of Ukraine’s long-range capabilities.
The operation, codenamed “Web” by Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), struck four confirmed military airfields—Belaya, Diaghilevo, Olenya, and Ivanovo.
The aircraft hit include some of Russia’s most valuable strategic bombers, including Tu-95 and Tu-22M3 models, as well as at least one A-50 airborne early warning aircraft, according to Ukrainian officials.
In total, 34 percent of Russia’s fleet of long-range cruise missile carriers were reportedly affected. The SBU has estimated the financial cost of the damage at more than $7 billion.
The strikes, which took place across a vast expanse of Russian territory—including locations thousands of kilometers from the front line—mark one of the most extensive and technically complex operations by Ukrainian forces to date.
Several of the targeted airbases are considered critical to Russia’s long-range bombing operations and its overall nuclear deterrence infrastructure.
Perhaps most notably, Ukrainian officials claim that many of the drones used in the attacks were assembled inside Russia itself, in what has become a striking illustration of both operational ingenuity and intelligence failure.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Ukrainian headquarters coordinating the drone attacks was located just a few hundred metres from a local office of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) in the Chelyabinsk region, underscoring the audacity and reach of the operation. They were later transferred into mobile wooden cabins mounted on civilian trucks and positioned near airbases. At the designated time, these disguised platforms remotely launched the drones, which flew low and fast to their targets.
The fact that Ukrainian agents were able to operate inside Russian territory for months—transporting equipment, renting facilities, and assembling strike assets undetected—has raised serious questions about the effectiveness of Russian counterintelligence and internal security. The operation’s success not only exposed vulnerabilities in Russia’s defenses, but also highlighted a level of operational freedom that few had thought possible this deep into Russian territory.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense acknowledged only that “several aircraft caught fire” as a result of drone strikes in five regions—Irkutsk, Ryazan, Murmansk, Ivanovo, and Amur—but offered no specifics on the scale of the losses.
Ukrainian officials, by contrast, described the attack as one of the most significant sabotage actions of the war.
The operation’s planning reportedly spanned more than 18 months and was overseen by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and SBU chief Vasyl Malyuk.
Coming just days before planned peace talks, the timing of the attack appears calculated to reinforce Ukraine’s negotiating position and to demonstrate that the Kremlin can no longer assume its key strategic assets are out of reach.
While independent verification remains ongoing, military analysts have suggested the operation represents a major turning point in modern asymmetric warfare. Ukraine, with limited access to traditional long-range munitions, has increasingly leaned on drone-based innovation to offset Russia’s numerical advantage.
The destruction of more than one-third of Russia’s strategic bomber fleet in a single day is a historic loss, a profound huniliation in the realm of Russian national security. And one that may force a painful reassessment inside Moscow.
