For 18 months, Ukrainian special operations quietly laid the groundwork for a strike that would rewrite the rules of modern warfare. The result? Operation Spider’s Web, a sprawling, coordinated drone assault that gutted Russia’s long-range bomber fleet in a single night.
In this piece, I break down exactly how Ukraine pulled it off: 117 FPV kamikaze drones, smuggled in civilian trucks, deployed in synchronized attacks on five separate Russian airbases, including one in the icy depths of Siberia. The damage is staggering: 41 aircraft destroyed. Among them? Tu-95 Bears, Tu-22M Backfires, and the high-value A-50 Mainstay airborne radar platform.
This wasn’t just tactical, it was existential. One-third of Russia’s strategic bomber leg is now scrap metal. That’s not battlefield attrition; that’s a direct hit on the Kremlin’s nuclear triad. No bombers, no Kh-101 cruise missiles terrorizing Ukrainian cities at 4 a.m. This is the kind of strike that changes how wars are fought.
I’ll walk you through how the attack unfolded, what platforms were lost, and why the symbolism runs far deeper than most Western analysts have noticed (spoiler: Budapest Memorandum). And of course, I’ll explore what this means for the future of drone warfare, because if Spider’s Web is any indication, Ukraine is writing the next chapter while the rest of the world is still fumbling through the preface.
Come for the military-grade insight. Stay for the sarcasm.
—Wes
Video sources: https://pastebin.com/yJHc5MHQ
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