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One of the bases in Siberia is roughly 5,200 kilometers away from the front line.

Kyiv, June 2 (DPnet).– Ukraine struck a heavy blow this Sunday, June 1st, against five Russian air bases in a simultaneous operation that has been recorded as evidence of the destruction of 41 Russian A-50, Tu-95, and Tu-22 M3 strategic bombers. The Tu-95 and Tu-22 M3 are armed with eight cruise missiles each that can carry nuclear weapons.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the assault "brilliant" and "perfectly prepared." He said Ukraine used 117 drones to eliminate more than a third of Russia's cruise missile-carrying aircraft.

The Russian Ministry of Defense called the operation a "terrorist attack". It confirmed in a statement published by Russian state news agencies that the airfields had been attacked by drones in the Murmansk, Irkutsk, Ivanovo, Ryazan, and Amur regions.

According to a Ukrainian intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, Kyiv carried out the operation, codenamed Spider's Web, using first-person view (FPV) drones armed with explosives.

Russian bombers and fighter-bombers carry out daily attacks on Ukrainian cities, primarily civilian targets, and Kyiv has long lamented its inability to thwart such bombings, in part because its democratic partners have imposed restrictions on attacks deep inside Russia using Western-supplied weapons. Sunday's operation demonstrated that Ukraine has, in the meantime, found a way to deploy its own Ukrainian-made weapons to hit previously unattainable targets.

The attacks may have dealt a significant blow to Russia's ability to conduct airstrikes with cruise missiles, as well as to its nuclear capability, revealing the vulnerability of important military assets thousands of miles from the front lines. They have also exposed weaknesses in Russia's powerful security apparatus, which prevents sabotage operations from being carried out deep within its territory, including Siberia.