Ukraine’s SBU releases fresh video of Operation Spider Web, says ‘more painful surprises’ coming

Ukraine’s internal security agency, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), has released a new video with more details of its mass drone strikes on Russia’s strategic aviation assets under Operation Spider Web earlier this month.

The Operation Spider Web, carried out on June 1, involved 117 drones that were hidden in trucks across Russia and deployed against four air bases thousands of kilometres away from the Ukrainian border.

The SBU claimed the strikes damaged 41 aircraft, including Tu-95, Tu-22M3, and Tu-160 bombers, A-50 spy planes, and An-12 and Il-78 transport aircraft, causing net damage of over $7 billion.

The video published by SBU shows details of the strikes across four airfields in retaliation for Russian missile attacks on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.

‘We strike where the enemy feels safe’

SBU chief Vasyl Maliuk said, “We strike where the enemy feels safe—and more painful surprises are coming.”

The footage shows preparations taking place in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk, not far from a Federal Security Service (FSB) office, according to the SBU.

The trucks then drove to the cities of Ivanovo, Ryazan, and in the Murmansk, Irkutsk, and Amur oblasts. At the time of the attack, the cabins opened remotely allowing the drones to strike Russian planes at the Belaya, Olenya, Dyagilevo, and Ivanovo air bases.

The operation was also planned to strike the air base in Ukrainka in Amur Oblast, but it failed.

The drones used in the strike were specially designed by SBU specialists, and their unique features allowed them to be remotely controlled from thousands of kilometres away, an SBU source told the Kyiv Independent.

‘Working on new surprises, no less painful’

SBU chief Vasyl Maliuk, who personally oversaw the operation, stressed that Ukrainian drones targeted “absolutely legitimate targets—military airfields and aircraft that attack our peaceful cities.”

“The SBU is hitting and will hit (Russia) where it considers itself unreachable,” Maliuk said in a statement.

“We are working on new surprises, no less painful than the Operation Spider Web.”

The attack was lauded by even Western partners, with NATO Admiral Pierre Vandier calling it a reinvention of the “Trojan Horse” method with “technical and industrial creativity.”

Satellite imagery released after the attack showed around a dozen destroyed planes. NATO estimates that between 10 and 13 Russian planes were completely destroyed, and more were damaged.

President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that roughly half of the 41 targeted planes have been damaged beyond repair. Russia acknowledged damage to its aircraft but claimed all of them will be “restored”.