Just how much damage did Ukraine do in its 'Spiderweb' drone attack on Russia?

While Ukraine released what it said were recordings of drones attacking these air bases, as well as two others in the Ivanovo and Ryazan regions, satellite imagery did not show any visible signs of damage at these sites.
Russia no longer manufactures these aircraft, said Thomas Withington, an electronic warfare and air defense expert at the Royal United Services Institute, a think tank in London.
'You can't just go to the factory and get a new one. Once you lose one of these aircraft, broadly speaking you lose it forever,' said Withington. 'That degrades the strategic and nuclear capabilities of the Russian air force.'
Whatever the total losses, few outside Russia contest that Ukraine's operation was a remarkable feat of intelligence, planning and utilizing cheap, modern warfare tools.
According to the SBU, it stashed 117 small drones inside sheds on the backs of trucks, unleashing them near the perimeters of four Russian air bases. One of these air bases, Belaya, is 2,500 miles away from Ukraine's borders.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed it as 'a brilliant result' that took 18 months to plan and would 'undoubtedly be in history books.'
Zelenskyy aide Pavlo Palisa told journalists in Washington on Wednesday that 41 Russian aircraft were hit, around half of which were 'completely destroyed' and the rest no longer able to fly.
The SBU and Zelenskyy said 34% of Russia's nuclear-capable strategic bombing force had been taken out of action — at a cost of $7 billion.
Palisa told reporters that two Beriev A-50s — rare and valuable early-warning radar planes, known as 'awacs' — were 'targeted.' The SBU's video only appeared to show a drone landing on top of the radar dish of one of these aircraft, however, with no explosion.
When contacted by NBC News for more information on how it came to its figures, the SBU said that NATO confirmed its tally — despite the discrepancy in figures given by the alliance.
Russia has a far different version of events.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Daily Mirror

43 minutes ago

• Daily Mirror

'Paedo' billionaire close to Putin 'trafficked schoolgirls' to rich pals

Russia has been hit with a 'paedophile scandal' dubbed it's own 'Epstein affair' after a billionaire, with links to Putin, allegedly ordered young girls to have sex with him A "paedophile scandal" dubbed Russia's " Epstein affair" allegedly involving one of Vladimir Putin's billionaire buddies in Moscow has been exposed. Underage "virgin" girls, aged 15 to 17, were reportedly recruited and lured by a network of pimps using the schoolgirls for rich clients, according to an independent Russian media outlet. These young girls were reportedly enticed by promises of money to have sex with rich clients and oligarchs. These vile groups used regional beauty contests, modelling agencies, castings for non-existent shoots, dating sites and even online messenger groups to find their young victims. A Russian billionaire was named as part of a court case into the scandal. The organisers of one group of child sex pimps, and the well-known Russian billionaire were recorded in the investigative materials, but the identity was later expunged, according to media outlets Verstka and Important Stories. The billionaire and other clients suspected of using these young girls for horror sex crimes were not prosecuted - allegedly in a likely cover-up by Putin's authorities. This billionaire was seen rubbing shoulders with Putin earlier this year at a major state occasion at the Kremlin. Another suspected client was connected to a former Putin defence minister, alleged the outlets. One client reportedly ordered a new schoolgirl almost every day on a trip. An investigator on the case reportedly said they were told not to pursue the clients. They said: "Our bosses, on orders from the prosecutors, told us not to touch it. All [of us] are grown-ups, [we] can take a hint." A victim, named Liza, told the outlet she had her first sex session with a billionaire when she was 15. She and other victims were allegedly ordered to hospital to "check for virginity" and sexually transmitted diseases. The report said: "She had no phone - it had been taken away the day before." Liza described the mansion she was allegedly taken to and said: "A big bed, expensive furniture, a large, expensive chandelier". She claimed a driver in a grey Audi had brought her and a housekeeper served her dinner and put her to bed. The report added: "Then a man entered the bedroom. He did not introduce himself but had sex with [the schoolgirl]. Twenty minutes later, the man left, Liza took a shower, and fell asleep again. The next morning….the visit was repeated." The report also said the young girl was then paid after she was taken advantage of, adding: "Before leaving, the man handed the schoolgirl a book, which contained 150,000 rubles [£1,700 / $2,300]." Liza told investigators she "got scared" before the encounter and said: "I suddenly realised that I was too far from home and not in control of the situation." She then told authorities the scouts would threaten her "with problems" if she disobeyed. Another girl, Irina, 17, from a provincial city, also testified that she was paid for sexual services with the same oligarch. One pimp Maksim 'Mad Max' Nekozyrev - jailed for six years for organising prostitution with minors - was recorded under interrogation saying: "We call them [virgins] 5.1 or 6.1. These are high value goods. A clean, unexposed girl is sought out, naturally she must be a virgin. Next, this girl gets acquainted with a VIP client. VIP clients are, by the rule, billionaires." A woman Anastasia Yakusheva was sentenced to six years in a penal colony, and another female pimp Olga Goncharova was jailed for five years and six months. Another woman, Svetlana Titova, was sought in Austria, but her extradition was refused. She was jailed for seven years in absentia. Titova denied these claims and said: "I never organised any prostitution, I helped girls from poor families. I introduced them to wealthy men, if they asked. Believe me, they all ask themselves."

NBC News

an hour ago

• NBC News

What could happen if Trump does decide to bomb Iran's main nuclear site

If President Donald Trump does decide to use the United States' largest conventional bomb to destroy Iran's fortresslike Fordo nuclear enrichment facility, the colossal force of the explosion would likely cause casualties among workers or anyone else still at the site. But it would not trigger a nuclear explosion or a widespread radiological or chemical spill, according to former nuclear officials and experts. Sitting to the south of Iran's capital, Tehran, the Fordo plant is used to enrich uranium for the production of nuclear energy or, potentially, a bomb. But although this uranium and its chemical byproducts can be harmful to ingest or touch without protective equipment — they won't create a wider blast or regional contamination, analysts say. That would only be the case if Fordo housed nuclear reactors or warheads, which international watchdogs and experts say is not the case. 'If you're down there and it gets bombed, you're stuffed,' Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, the ex-commanding officer of the British military's Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Regiment, told NBC News on Thursday. 'But that's because this is a 2,500-kilogram (about 5,500-pound) warhead we are talking about here,' he said, referring to the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (or MOP), the largest non-nuclear bomb in the world, which only the U.S. has. Less of a bunker-buster and more of a mountain-buster, this is perhaps the only conventional ordnance in the world that could do the job if Trump did decide to bomb Fordo. 'But if anyone thinks this would be like Chernobyl — absolutely not,' de Bretton-Gordon said. 'Blowing up uranium will not create a nuclear explosion; that is a very complex piece of science, which is why it's so bloody difficult to make nuclear bombs.' There is also little chance of a wider radiation leak or spill impacting the surrounding area, according to Mark Nelson, founder and managing director of Radiant Energy Group, a research consultancy based in Chicago. That's because 'the nuclear substances at Fordo are only very weakly radioactive,' he said. Were this a nuclear plant or missile site, there could be 'fission products' — the stuff uranium breaks down into during a nuclear reaction — which can cause a wider catastrophe. Scrutiny has nonetheless sharpened on Fordo as Trump deliberates whether to join Israel's attacks on Iran. Iran's most advanced enrichment facility, Fordo was refining uranium to 60%, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. That's far more than the 3-5% needed for power plants — and far closer to the 90% required to build a warhead. Until 2018, Iran had been complying with a landmark deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, that offered Tehran billions of dollars in sanctions relief in exchange for agreeing to curb its nuclear program. The agreement was sealed by President Barack Obama in July 2015, along with the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council — the U.S., Russia, France, China and the United Kingdom — as well as Germany and the European Union. Most independent observers said it was successfully limiting Iran's nuclear program. That effectively collapsed when Trump walked away from the pact three years later. Iran had been back in talks with Trump when Israel started bombing last week. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had no choice because Iran was racing toward building a bomb, something the International Atomic Energy Agency says it has not been able to confirm. The watchdog has been nonetheless concerned about Fordo, where uranium's naturally mined form is turned into a gas and spun at high speed inside centrifuges. That separates its heavier isotope, uranium-238, from the lighter uranium-235 that can be used for civilian purposes or otherwise. Iran says Fordo was designed to hold 3,000 of these centrifuges, a 'size and configuration' that is 'inconsistent with a peaceful program,' Obama said in 2009. Observers such as de Bretton-Gordon say the U.S.'s enormous MOP bomb might be powerful enough not only to destroy this facility but effectively incase it under the collapsed mountain. That could produce a similar effect to the sarcophagus built around Chernobyl after the disaster in 1986, Bretton-Gordon said. Whereas Chernobyl's protective enclosure is 40 feet thick, 'at Fordo we would be talking about a sarcophagus 200-feet thick,' de Bretton-Gordon said. That's not to say the risk of contamination would be zero. If the uranium gas is released, it would partly decompose into hydrofluoric acid, a deadly substance that causes deep-tissue burns if touched without protective gear, and potentially fatal problems for the heart, lungs and nervous system if inhaled. 'It's a nasty chemical to be around without correct safety equipment and procedures,' said Nelson at the Radiant Energy Group. Any blast survivors, or rescuers without the necessary safety equipment, would face 'extremely severe' consequences, he said, but caveated that 'you have to be really close and really unprotected.' There is also a chance that radioactive material could seep into any water source that's running through the mountain. But the likely radioactive levels would be low — detectable rather than harmful — both Nelson and de Bretton-Gordon said. Ultimately, Nelson agreed, all of these risks pale in comparison with the threat posed by the MOP bomb itself, whose payload is upward of 5,500 pounds and weighs a total of 30,000 pounds. 'The danger at the seaside of saltwater ingestion is real — even a few liters could kill you,' he analogized. 'This danger, however, is relatively small compared to drowning.'

The Independent

5 hours ago

• The Independent

Russian drones slam into 2 Ukrainian cities, killing at least 1 person in nighttime attack

Russian drones slammed into two Ukrainian cities, killing at least one person in nighttime attacks, authorities said Friday, as a Kremlin official said he expected an announcement next week on dates for a fresh round of direct peace talks. Russia's overnight drone assault targeted the southern Ukraine port city of Odesa and the northeastern city of Kharkiv, hitting apartment blocks, officials said. The barrage of more than 20 drones injured almost two dozen civilians, including girls aged 17 and 12, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. 'Russia continues its tactics of targeted terror against our people,' Zelenskyy said on messaging app Telegram, urging the United States and the European Union to crank up economic pressure on Russia. Russia has shown no signs of relenting in its attacks, more than three years after it invaded its neighbor. It is pressing a summer offensive on parts of the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line and has kept up long-range strikes that have hit civilian areas. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that the date for the next round peace talks is expected to be agreed upon next week. Kyiv officials have not recently spoken about resuming talks with Russia, last held when delegations met in Istanbul on June 2, though Ukraine continues to offer a ceasefire and support U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting. The two rounds of brief talks yielded only agreements on the exchange of prisoners and wounded soldiers. A fire caused by Russia's nighttime strike on Odesa engulfed a four-story residential building, which partly collapsed and injured three emergency workers. A separate fire spread across the upper floors of a 23-story high-rise, leading to the evacuation of around 600 residents. In Kharkiv, at least eight drones hit civilian infrastructure, injuring four people, including two children, according to Ukraine's Emergency Service. Russia launched 80 Shahed and decoy drones overnight, Ukraine's air force said, claiming that air defenses shot down or jammed 70 of them. ___