Vasyl Malyuk with plans for Operation Spider Web. Photo: Telegram, Babel
In an unexpected escalation of its attacks on military targets within Russia on Sunday, Ukraine launched a barrage of drone strikes on Russian bombers in the country’s Arctic and the Far East regions just one day before a planned second round of peace talks in Istanbul.
Residents of the Murmansk region in the Russian Arctic reported explosions and a large fire after a Ukrainian drone attack on a military airfield, news channel Ostorozhno Novosti reported on Sunday.
The attack occurred on the outskirts of the city of Olenegorsk, with Telegram channel Supernova+ reporting that at least 10 explosions had been heard. Murmansk region Governor Andrey Chibis later confirmed that drones had struck the region.
Governor Igor Kobzev of the Irkutsk region in southeastern Siberia said that drones launched from a parked truck had struck a military unit in the village of Sredny, with the Belaya Air Base the suspected target. It is the first Ukrainian drone attack to have hit the region in Russia's Far East.
Several Russian Telegram channels published video footage of the incidents in the Murmansk and Irkutsk regions. In one video, a witness said drones were also launched from a truck in the incident in Olenegorsk. According to the Baza Telegram channel, which is close to the security forces, the truck driver, who may not have known about the drones, has been detained.
Sources in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) told Ukrainian news outlet Babel that the attacks formed part of Operation Spider’s Web, which targeted over 40 Russian military aircraft. Babel published video footage of what it said was the Belaya airfield in the Irkutsk region ablaze, with commentary from Vasyl Malyuk, head of the SBU.
Babel said airfields in the Ryazan and Ivanovo regions had also come under attack, while an SBU source confirmed to BBC News Russian that Ukrainian drones had attacked military airfields in four Russian regions.
