Ukraine's Operation Spiderweb as BIG as Bin Laden's killing? Here's what US senator said

Ukraine's "audacious" drone attack on Russian bombers showed "skill and audacity" and was comparable to the US operation to kill Osama Bin Laden, US Senator Richard Blumenthal told Politico in an interview.

Ukraine on Sunday (June 1) announced that it had successfully undertaken a stealth operation inside Russian enemy lines.

The US senator stressed that Ukraine's Operation Spiderweb, which destroyed 41 Russian aircraft, was "one of the great military achievements in recent years."

"Just in the skill and audacity of these attacks, it will rank with the United States raid on Osama bin Laden and the Israeli pager operation as one of the great military achievements in recent years," Blumenthal said, adding that Ukraine "can hit anywhere."

Ukraine's security agency said 117 drones were smuggled into Russia over a year and simultaneously struck airfields in at least four regions thousands of kilometres from the Ukrainian border.

Bin Laden, the leader of the al-Qaeda terror group responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US, was killed by US special forces in Pakistan in 2011.

Notably, Blumenthal is a co-sponsor of a new bill that would impose additional sanctions on Russia as it continues to reject a ceasefire with Ukraine.

Operation Spiderweb was a result of 18 months of planning and involved the smuggling of drones into Russia, synchronised launch timings, and improvised control centres hidden inside freight vehicles.

The operation was reportedly overseen by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and SBU Chief Vasyl Maliuk.

Ukraine claimed the estimated cost of the enemy’s strategic aviation, which was hit today as a result of the SBU’s special operation, was $7 billion.

A total of 117 drones were deployed across five locations. However, many were likely to be intercepted, or fell short, but enough of those reached their targets to signal a breach in Russia's rear-area defence.