Ukrainian drones strike deep inside Russian territory ahead of new round of talks
The drones reportedly hit 41 bombers stationed at several airfields on Sunday afternoon, including the Belaya air base in Russia’s Irkutsk region
Ukraine said Sunday (June 1, 2025) that its drones destroyed Russian bombers worth billions of dollars as far away as Siberia in its longest-range assault of the war, as it geared up for talks on prospects for a ceasefire.
In a spectacular claim, Ukraine said it damaged $7 billion worth of Russian aircraft parked at four airbases thousands of kilometres across the border, with unverified video footage showing aircraft engulfed in flames and black smoke.
A source in the Ukrainian security services (SBU) said the strikes hit 41 planes that were used to “bomb Ukrainian villages”.
The drones were concealed in the ceilings of transportation containers that were opened remotely for the assault, the source added.
The long-planned operation came at a delicate moment three years into Russia’s invasion.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that he’s sending a team, led by Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, to Istanbul for talks with Russian officials on Monday, June 2, 2025.
Turkey is hosting the meeting, which was spurred by US. .President Donald Trump’s push for a quick deal to end the three-year war.
Mr. Zelenskyy, who previously voiced scepticism about whether Russia was serious in proposing Monday’s meeting, said priorities included “a complete and unconditional ceasefire” and the return of prisoners and abducted children.
Russia, which has rejected previous ceasefire requests, said it had formulated its own peace terms but refused to divulge them in advance.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his U.S. counterpart Marco Rubio spoke by telephone Sunday about “several initiatives aimed at a political solution to the Ukraine crisis”, including Monday’s talks, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the TASS news agency.
‘Spider’s Web’
Mr. Zelensky on Sunday hailed “brilliant” results of the coordinated attack, code-named “Spider’s Web”, which he said had used 117 drones and was the country’s “most long-range operation” in more than three years of war.
Russia’s Defence Ministry confirmed on Telegram that several of its military aircraft “caught fire”, adding that there were no casualties.
Rybar, an account on the Telegram message platform that is close to the Russian military, called it a “very heavy blow” for Moscow and pointed to what it called “serious errors” by Russian intelligence.
A source from Ukraine’s security service (SBU) said the drone attacks hit Russian airbases in several places: Belaya in eastern Siberia, Olenya in the Arctic near Finland, and Ivanovo and Dyagilevo, which are both located east of Moscow.
The operation was prepared for over a year and a half, the SBU source said, and aimed to destroy “enemy bombers far from the front”.
Mr. Zelenskyy said one of the targeted locations was right next to one of the offices of the FSB Russian security services.
‘First such strike on Siberia’
Russia said it had arrested several suspects, including the driver of a truck from which a drone had taken off, state agencies said.
But Mr. Zelensky said people involved in preparing the attacks were “extracted from Russian territory in time”.
Igor Kobzev, Governor of Russia’s Irkutsk region, which hosts the Belaya airbase, said it was “the first attack of this sort in Siberia”.
He called on the population not to panic and posted an amateur video apparently showing a drone in the sky and a large cloud of grey smoke.
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