Ukraine attacked Russia with a series of drone strikes on military air bases deep in the Russian heartland on Sunday — an operation that appeared timed to influence a new round of Russian-Ukrainian ceasefire talks set to take place in Istanbul Monday.
After more than three years of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, this carefully planned attack, intended to hit bombers that launch missiles on Ukrainian cities, was celebrated by Ukrainians, who called it “Operation Trojan Trucks” on social media.
Ukraine’s Security Service smuggled first-person view drones laden with small explosives onto trucks driven deep into Russia. The operation was recognized by Ukrainian officials as a much-needed win.
"The enemy has been bombing our country almost every night from these aircraft, and today they actually felt that retaliation is inevitable," Vasyl Malyuk, the head of Ukraine's security services, said in a statement.
In an earlier statement about the operation, officially dubbed “Spiderweb,” Ukraine’s security service claimed it destroyed $7 billion worth of Russia’s strategic aviation with the strikes — about a third of Russia’s strategic cruise missile carriers
