'This will be in textbooks': Expert details how Ukraine pulled off the most shocking strike against Russia
Security expert Maria Avdeeva, reacting to the scale and method of the operation, posted: “This will be in textbooks… Russia can’t produce these bombers anymore. The loss is massive. Nothing like this has ever been done before.”
- Jun 1, 2025,
- Updated Jun 1, 2025 9:44 PM IST
Ukraine just rewrote the playbook on modern warfare—launching kamikaze drones from disguised trucks deep inside Russia to obliterate over 40 warplanes, in what one security expert called 'a strike that will be in military textbooks'.
The unprecedented assault, code-named Pavutyna (“Spider Web”), struck multiple Russian airbases—including Belaya in eastern Siberia, Olenya near the Arctic, and Dyagilevo and Ivanovo east of Moscow—well beyond the range of traditional Ukrainian attacks.
Security expert Maria Avdeeva, reacting to the scale and method of the operation, posted: “This will be in textbooks… Russia can’t produce these bombers anymore. The loss is massive. Nothing like this has ever been done before.”
According to reports, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) spent a year planning the strike. The method: mounting FPV drones beneath remotely controlled wooden cabin roofs on cargo trucks. When the signal came, the roofs opened and the drones surged out—targeting strategic aircraft on the ground.
The Kyiv Independent, citing intelligence sources, said the targets included Tu-95 and Tu-22M3 bombers, and at least one A-50 radar aircraft. The Irkutsk governor confirmed a strike on a military unit in the village of Sridni—Ukraine’s first confirmed attack in Siberia. Russian state media RT also published video of a drone impact.
If independently confirmed, the attack would be Ukraine’s most destructive drone strike of the war—and a dramatic shift in operational reach, hitting Russia’s air power where it thought it was untouchable.
Still, diplomacy ticks on. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a delegation led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov will travel to Istanbul for talks with Russia. “Our position includes a complete and unconditional ceasefire,” Zelensky said, adding demands for the return of prisoners and abducted children.
Ukraine just rewrote the playbook on modern warfare—launching kamikaze drones from disguised trucks deep inside Russia to obliterate over 40 warplanes, in what one security expert called 'a strike that will be in military textbooks'.
The unprecedented assault, code-named Pavutyna (“Spider Web”), struck multiple Russian airbases—including Belaya in eastern Siberia, Olenya near the Arctic, and Dyagilevo and Ivanovo east of Moscow—well beyond the range of traditional Ukrainian attacks.
Security expert Maria Avdeeva, reacting to the scale and method of the operation, posted: “This will be in textbooks… Russia can’t produce these bombers anymore. The loss is massive. Nothing like this has ever been done before.”
According to reports, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) spent a year planning the strike. The method: mounting FPV drones beneath remotely controlled wooden cabin roofs on cargo trucks. When the signal came, the roofs opened and the drones surged out—targeting strategic aircraft on the ground.
The Kyiv Independent, citing intelligence sources, said the targets included Tu-95 and Tu-22M3 bombers, and at least one A-50 radar aircraft. The Irkutsk governor confirmed a strike on a military unit in the village of Sridni—Ukraine’s first confirmed attack in Siberia. Russian state media RT also published video of a drone impact.
If independently confirmed, the attack would be Ukraine’s most destructive drone strike of the war—and a dramatic shift in operational reach, hitting Russia’s air power where it thought it was untouchable.
Still, diplomacy ticks on. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a delegation led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov will travel to Istanbul for talks with Russia. “Our position includes a complete and unconditional ceasefire,” Zelensky said, adding demands for the return of prisoners and abducted children.