The United States believes that Ukraine’s large-scale drone attack over the weekend damaged up to 20 Russian warplanes and destroyed around 10 of them, according to two U.S. officials speaking on condition of anonymity.
The operation, dubbed “Spider’s Web,” reportedly targeted four air bases across Russia with 117 drones launched from containers positioned near the sites.
Ukraine released dramatic footage on Wednesday showing drones hitting Russian strategic bombers and landing on the dome antennas of two rare A-50 military surveillance aircraft — of which only a few exist in Russia’s arsenal.
The U.S. assessment is more conservative than the figures provided by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who earlier the same day told reporters in Kyiv that 41 Russian aircraft had been struck, with about half too damaged to be repaired.
The differing assessments reflect ongoing challenges in independently verifying battlefield damage in the ongoing conflict.
