Ukraine drones 'emerged from trucks' before strikes on bombers during major attack in Russia

A swarm of Ukrainian drones have attacked a number of military airbases deep inside Russia’s borders and left more than 40 bomber aircraft in flames, according to Ukrainian officials. Sources say FPV drones were smuggled into Russia, along with mobile wooden cabins. The cabins were carried by trucks with the drones hidden inside. The cabin roofs opened remotely – and then the drones took off and zoned in on the nearby bases.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the operation as “an absolutely brilliant result” and said the Ukrainians’ actions will “undoubtedly be in the history books”. He said planning for the operation began 18 months ago, and those involved “were withdrawn from Russian territory in time”. Moscow said Ukraine carried out a “terrorist attack” in five regions but they were “repelled”. Russia’s defence ministry added multiple participants in the operation had been arrested.

Russian and Ukrainian officials are due to meet in Istanbul tomorrow but, as BBC Monitoring’s Russia editor Vitality Shevchenko writes, these attacks “won’t necessarily alter the course of talks”. Last night saw the largest-ever aerial attack on Ukraine, followed by Ukraine’s daring raid on bombers deep within Russian territory.

This shows that Russia is as keen to attack Ukraine as ever, and, in turn, President Zelensky is keen to prove wrong those who think – to use Donald Trump’s phrase – that he has “no cards”. Extraordinary developments, but they won’t necessarily alter the course of talks on Monday. The people attending them are there to deliver and hear messages, but not to make big decisions. All we know is that in the absence of progress on the diplomatic front, both Ukraine and Russia are more than willing to let the drones and missiles do the talking.

Sources say it took a year and a half to prepare. Dozens of drones, smuggled into Russia. Stored on wooden pallets. Loaded onto trucks. Driven to distant airbases and launched remotely. Swarms of drones were picked up on social media videos recorded from Siberia to the Arctic circle. In one video, filmed at a petrol station north of Irkutsk, drones can clearly be seen taking off from a parked truck. And there’s gunfire, as police officers desperately try to bring it down.

With smoke rising from bases across Russia, Ukrainian sources said they had done $2bn (£1.5bn) worth of damage – a claim impossible to verify. Cities, including Zaporizhzhia, were targeted in another major drone and missile attack. Twelve Ukrainian soldiers were killed at a training base, leading the head of Ukraine’s land forces to tender his resignation.

Russian and Ukrainian delegations are expected to be there – but after 24 hours of mayhem, the omens for a breakthrough do not seem good. Earlier, Russian state-operated media outlet Tass reported that the driver of a truck believed to be involved in the drone attack will be questioned by police. Russia’s defence ministry also says on Telegram that multiple participants in the operation had been arrested.

However, in his first statement since the drone operation took place, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s says the people involved in preparing the major drone attack “were withdrawn from Russian territory in time”.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has shared more details on the strike, saying 117 drones were used. “The most interesting thing – and we can already say this publicly – is that the ‘office’ of our operation on Russian territory was located right next to the FSB of Russia in one of their regions,” an English translation of his post on Telegram reads. The FSB is Russia’s security service.

We’re hearing from Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky for the first time about the drone strikes. He’s just posted on social media calling today’s operation “an absolutely brilliant result” and one “achieved solely by Ukraine”. “One year, six months, and nine days from the start of planning to effective execution,” he continues. “Our most long-range operation. Our people involved in preparing the operation were withdrawn from Russian territory in time.”

Zelensky says he met with the head of the the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Gen Vasyl Maliuk, and asked him to disclose the details and results of the operation to the public. “Of course, not everything can be revealed at this moment, but these are Ukrainian actions that will undoubtedly be in history books,” he adds. “Ukraine is defending itself, and rightly so – we are doing everything to make Russia feel the need to end this war. Russia started this war, Russia must end it. Glory to Ukraine!”

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) claims today’s attack on airfields in Russia has struck 34% of Russia’s strategic bombers capable of carrying cruise missiles. In a post on social media, the SBU said its “Operation Spider’s Web” cost Russia $7bn (£5.2bn). “We’re doing all we can to drive the enemy from our land! We’ll strike them at sea, in the air and on land. If necessary, we’ll get them from underground,” the SBU writes in a Telegram post.

We’re starting to see more reaction to Ukraine’s drone attack on Russian airfields earlier today. While the White House has not yet responded to the attack, the BBC’s US partner, CBS, reports that the US government wasn’t given a warning about the strikes. An administration source tells CBS News that the Trump administration was not “aware that today’s large-scale drone attack by Ukraine on the Russian military aircraft was coming”.

A fifth of Ukrainian territory is now under Russian control, and for Ukrainians living under occupation there seems little chance that any future deal to end the war will change that. Ukrainians in different Russian-controlled cities have told the BBC of the pressures they face, from being forced to accept a Russian passport to the risks of carrying out small acts of resistance.

The potential dangers are the same, whether in Mariupol or Melitopol, seized by Russia in the full-scale invasion in 2022, or in Crimea which was annexed eight years before. One woman, Mavka, says she chose to stay in Melitopol when the Russians invaded her city on 25 February 2022, “because it is unfair that someone can just come to my home and take it out”.

In recent months she has noticed a ramping up of not only a strict policy of “Russification” in the city, but of an increased militarisation of all spheres of life, including in schools. Meanwhile, children at nursery school in Crimea are told to sing the Russian anthem every morning, even the very youngest. All the teachers are Russian, most of them wives of soldiers who have moved in from Russia.