CNN
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The Ukrainian drone attack on Russian airfields was bold and bold. But most of all, it was meticulously planned and executed perfectly.
Kiev has crashed into a place where Moscow can hurt or destroy the military aircraft that it has used to terrorize Ukrainian civilians in everyday air attacks.
Ukrainian security services said 41 Russian aircraft, including strategic bombers and surveillance aircraft, had been attacked, but it is unclear how many people took full action.
Justin Bronk, a senior researcher at the Royal United Services Institute in London, said the attack was “a surprising success for Ukraine’s special services.”
“If even half of the total claims for 41 damaged/destroyed aircraft were confirmed, I wrote a memo while maintaining nuclear suppression and signal patrols against Japan, which had a major impact on the ability of Russian long-range aviation forces to maintain regular, large-scale cruise missile salvos on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.
This is what we know about how the attack unfolded.
The attack targets four airfields deep in Russia, with the farthest airfield, the Bellaya base in the Irkutsk region, about 4,500 kilometers (2,800 miles) from Ukraine’s border with Russia.
Other targets included Orenia base near Murmansk in the Arctic Circle, over 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) from Ukraine. Ziagilev Air Force Base in Riazan sphere, approximately 520 km (320 miles) from Ukraine. Ivanovo Air Force Base, a Russian military transport base, is approximately 800 km (500 miles) from the border.
The visuals shared by Ukrainian security agency SBU also targeted another base in the East Amur region. It is not clear whether this attack on the base failed or was aborted.
These enormous distances from the border with Ukraine probably made Russia happy with the protection of its site.
The most valuable aircraft on Belaya base were regularly parked to be clearly visible on airfields, which were visible in public satellite images, including Google Maps.
Moscow would have believed that the distance itself was sufficient to keep the aircraft safe from Ukraine’s attacks.
Russia maintains an air superiority over Ukraine, and Kiev’s allies supply Ukraine with several long-range missile systems, including US-made ATACMs and shadows of British and French storms, but there is no scope to hit this deep inside Russia.
Ukraine uses drones against targets within Russia, including Moscow, but at the slower speeds they travel, it becomes relatively easy for Russian air defenses to hit them.
This is where the boldness of the attack actually unfolded. Rather than trying to fly the drone from the border, Ukraine smuggled it right next to the site they wanted to target and fired it from there.
Russian radar and air defense at these bases were not prepared for such low altitudes and sudden attacks.
The only effective way to stop such attacks is to use heavy machine guns. Russia uses these against Ukrainian sea drones in the Black Sea.
But these are because either they have not been deployed quickly enough in the empty bands targeted by Ukraine on Sunday, or because Russia likely did not foresee this type of attack.
CNN was able to verify and earthen scene photos and videos, and checked locations near the base.
In a statement, the Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed that an attack called a “terrorist attack” was launched near the airfield.
Ukrainian President Voldymeierzelensky said 117 drones were used for operation.
According to the SBU, the drone was smuggled into Russia by its operatives. At one point, the drone was hidden inside a mobile wooden shed, perhaps while in Russia.
Photos obtained by CNN show a drone pushed right under the metal roof of Sheds slotted in an insulated cavity.
These wooden cabins were placed in trucks and driven to a location near the base.
Ukraine did not reveal that it was able to accurately introduce vehicles near famous military targets without detection, but reports in Russian media suggest that it is relatively easy.
Two Russian telegram channels, Baza and Astra, reported that both trucks were purchased by Ukrainians who lived in Russia.
Neither Russians nor Ukrainian authorities commented on these reports, but the RIA of the Russian news agency reported that authorities in the Irkutsk region were searching for men suspected of being involved in the attack. His name matched the name reported by Baza and Astra.
Ukrainian security services said operatives involved in the business had returned safely to Ukraine by the time the attack was launched. Zelensky said he worked in several Russian regions across three time zones.
A senior source for the Ukrainian drone development programme told CNN that the pilots who flew the drone were probably not near where they were launched.
“They would have set up an Internet hub that allowed pilots to remotely (control them), allowing each to quickly deploy each FPV (first-person view drone) and push each target one by one.”
Sources said the communications hub could be a “simple Russian mobile phone” that is more difficult to track than other systems, such as Starlink, which is widely used in Ukraine.
Sources who were described in the issue confirmed that an attack was carried out over Russian communications networks.
The truck was in place and the drone was ready, and the cabin roof opened and the drone flew towards the target.
Shared on social media, verified by CNN, video of the attack in the southeastern Irkutsk region of Russia, immersed in the earth, shows two drones flying out of a truck.
They are seen heading towards Bellaya Air Base in the distance. There, thick dark smoke from the previous strike is already swirling.
Another video from the same location shows the truck used to transport drones over fire after what appears to be an explosion designed to self-destruct the truck.
Zelensky said on Sunday that the attacks have been made over a year, six months and nine days, praising security services for their “great” business.
Russian officials have downplayed the attacks, saying strikes have been repelled in Ivanovo, Riazan and Amur regions, but “several aircraft” have sparked fires following attacks in Murmansk and Irkutsk regions. It added that the fire had disappeared.
He said there were no casualties. However, while Russian authorities have tried to downplay the attack, several well-known Russian military bloggers have spoken out in their criticism.
Rybar, a well-known Russian military blog, said the attack caused “tragic losses to all of Russian aviation” and was the result of “criminal negligence.”
The SBU said the strike caused an estimated $7 billion in damages, striking 34% of Russia’s strategic cruise missile carriers on its main air base.
Ukraine said it had destroyed several TU-95 and TU-22M3 strategic bombers and one of Russia’s few A-50 surveillance aircraft.
Sources discussed the issue stated that 27 TU-95, four TU-160s, two TU-22M3s and “probably” A-50 were hits.
The TU-22M3 is a Russian long-range missile strike platform capable of performing stand-off attacks, launching missiles from Russian airspace behind the frontline, leaving Ukraine’s anti-aircraft fire range.
Russia had 55 TU-22M3 jets and 57 TU-95s in its fleet at the beginning of the year, according to a “Military Balance 2025” report from the International Institute of Strategic Studies think tank.
The TU-95 joined the Soviet Air Force in the 1950s, and Russia modified it to launch cruise missiles like the TU-22.
RUSI expert Bronk said replacing some of these aircraft is extremely difficult for Russia as they have not been produced for decades.
