Full scale of Op Spiderweb devastation laid bare as satellite pix show prized Putin jets in RUINS after $7bn drone blitz
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Shadows of scorched earth are all that remain on Putin's bombers at this airfield
Credit: @AirbusDefence
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This bomber was smashed to smithereens by the cheap Ukrainian drones
Credit: AFP
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The Belaya airfield bares the scars of the drone blitz
Credit: @Planet and @AirbusDefence
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Stunning satellite photos show patches of scorched
earth
where valuable Russian jets one lay.
The debris has been hastily swept away - perhaps an attempt to conceal the scale of the destruction.
Elsewhere, wreckages of warplanes blown to pieces remain on the tarmac, with fragments strewn across the runway.
he most daring raids of the
WW2
that turned the tide against the
Nazis
.
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read more in world news
Volodymyr Zelensky
oversaw the operation and said:
"It's genuinely satisfying when something I authorized a year and six months ago comes to fruition and deprives Russians of over forty units of strategic aviation.
"We will continue this work."
Putin's
doomsday bomber
fleet was crippled with 41 - a third of the total - of his most prized aircraft lying in smouldering wrecks on tarmac.
Ukraine
said the sneak attack was worth $7bn (£5.2bn) in damage to
Russia
- caused by just 117 cheaply made
drones
.
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Following the humiliating and costly blow, Putin's stooges came out and
Desperate to save face, Russian war bloggers named the man they
believe was pulling the leavers as
Artem Timofeev.
Dramatic moment Putin's 'war hero' who led slaughter of Mariupol is killed in mysterious suicide bomb attack
Artem, 37, is a former
Ukrainian
DJ.
Putin's
sleuths think they have identified that he owned the lorries used to carry the containers to the
strikes
.
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Alleged drivers who transported the crates and were tracked down by the bloggers all had similar stories about taking instruction from an "Artem", the
.
They appeared to have thought they were transporting wooden frame houses, but instead they moved kamikaze drones into strike position.
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Ukraine hit bombers at the Russian Belaya Air Base in Irkutsk
Credit: East2West
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Ukraine released photos of the drones in the crates taken from inside Russia
Credit: Unpixs
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A still from first-person-footage of the drone blasts
Credit: Ukrainian Armed Forces
The drones and the containers were smuggled into Russia and then pieced together right under
Vlad's
nose.
Clueless lorry drivers then parked the containers
next
to Russian airbases - where they sat and waited in plain sight.
Zelensky said the drivers were led far away from their vehicles - as Ukraine looked to hide those involved being captured and interrogated the FSB.
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Then, on the morning of June 1, the fleet of flying bombs rose over the far reaches of Russia - and the most daring military operation of the war began.
Nondescript shipping containers parked in laybys and verges had attracted little attention - before their lids blew open and the drone swarms poured out.
Russian civilians stood in awe as they saw the drones zoom out of the containers and head in the direction of the airbase.
The craft buzzed as they took off into the air and only had to travel a short distance to their valuable targets.
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Each of the 117 drones had their own dedicated pilot and Russia had little defences to protect their bases and stop them.
One hapless Russian soldier stationed at an air base recorded himself standing just meters from several burning wrecks.
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Russian Belaya Air Base in Irkutsk region, Siberia, was ablaze
Credit: East2West
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