The Security Service of Ukraine oversaw a drone operation on Sunday that struck dozens of Russia’s strategic bombers just ahead of planned peace talks in Istanbul.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the “absolutely brilliant” outcome of the attack, which he described as “our most long-range operation” to date.
Zelensky said the attack had been in planning for more than one and a half years.
“Of course, not everything can be revealed at this moment, but these are Ukrainian actions that will undoubtedly be in history books,” Zelensky said Sunday in a post on the social platform X.
“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!” he continued.
A military official told The Associated Press that the drones hit 41 planes stationed at military airfields on Sunday afternoon, including A-50, Tu-95 and Tu-22M aircraft.
Moscow has previously used Tupolev Tu-95 and Tu-22 long-range bombers to launch missiles at Ukraine, while A-50s are used to coordinate targets and detect air defenses and guided missiles.
The military source told the AP that the complex attack included the smuggling of first-person view drones into Russia, where they were then placed in mobile wooden houses.
“Later, drones were hidden under the roofs of these houses while already placed on trucks. At the right moment, the roofs of the houses were remotely opened, and the drones flew to hit Russian bombers,” the official told the AP, speaking on condition of anonymity to disclose details of the military operation.
Zelensky said the Ukrainian officials involved in planning the operation were withdrawn from Russia with enough time to spare.
The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed the attack in a social media post but said the attacks only caught fire in the regions of Murmansk and Irkutsk, according to a Google translation of the statement.
Russia said the fires had been put out with no casualties among service members or civilians. Russia also said it had detained “some participants” of the attack.
The Associated Press contributed.
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