Roving Periscope: Ahead of ‘peace talks’ Ukraine traps Russia in Op. Spider’s Web
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: To get a bargaining chip on the eve of the second round of ‘peace talks’ in Turkey, Ukraine on Sunday launched a massive drone attack on Russia, claiming to destroying USD 7 billion worth of its aircraft, representing 34 percent of Moscow’s bomber fleet, the media reported.
In a post on X, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised the “Operation Spider’s Web,” emphasising its precision and the significant blow dealt to Russia’s aerial capabilities.
More than 38 months after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Kyiv dealt a crippling blow on Moscow over the weekend by launching a massive drone strike, targeting multiple rival airbases which resulted in substantial damage to Moscow’s strategic bomber fleet.
The operation, codenamed ‘Spider’s Web’, was Ukraine’s biggest drone operation against Russia to date, and came after a deadly missile strike from Russia and on the eve of the scheduled second round of peace talks between the two nations in Istanbul on Monday.
On Sunday (June 1), a Russian Iskander-M missile struck a Ukrainian military training facility in the Dnipropetrovsk region, killing 12 Ukrainian soldiers and wounding more than 60 others.
Hours later, Ukrainian forces executed a drone assault on five Russian airbases at Belaya, Dyagilevo, Ivanovo Severny, Olenya, and Ukrainka. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reported that 117 drones were deployed, successfully damaging or destroying over 40 military aircraft, including Tu-95, Tu-22M, and A-50 models. This operation marked Ukraine’s deepest strike into the vast Russian territory, with some targets located over 4,300 kms from the front lines, even in Siberia.
The drones, prepared for over a year, were concealed within wooden structures mounted on trucks, allowing them to be transported close to the targeted airbases without detection. Once in position, the drones were remotely launched, catching Russian defences off guard.
Meanwhile, Russia took control of another village in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region on Sunday. As of May-end, Ukraine has so far lost about 18 percent of its total land to Russia, a CNN report noted.
Strangely, these developments occurred on the eve of the second round of direct peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, scheduled to take place in Istanbul, Turkiye, on Monday (June 2.) The first round, held over a week ago, led to the largest prisoner exchange since the war began, but failed to produce any roadmap for ending the war.
Ahead of the talks, Zelenskyy expressed frustration over Russia’s failure to provide a memorandum outlining its peace terms. Moscow has so far rejected all ceasefire demands.
Drone footage shows several Russian bombers engulfed in flames, sending thick plumes of black smoke billowing into the sky. In videos now circulating on social media, Ukrainian drones can also be seen over the military base in Siberia.
The idea of direct talks was first proposed by President Vladimir Putin after Ukraine and European powers demanded that he agree to a ceasefire, which the Kremlin dismissed.
Even before the Ukrainian drone struck deep into Russia, proving its prowess, the Kremlin set out its opening terms for an immediate end to the war: Ukraine must drop its NATO ambitions and withdraw all of its troops from the entirety of the territory of four Ukrainian regions claimed and now mostly controlled by Russia.
Moscow currently controls nearly one-fifth of Ukraine, or about 113,100 square km.
Putin also asked for immediate sanctions relief to secure the fate of hundreds of billions of dollars in frozen Russian assets abroad and what the Kremlin calls “de-Nazification,” involving guaranteeing the rights of Russian-speakers.
After keeping the world guessing on whether Ukraine would even turn up for the second round, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Sunday said Defence Minister Rustem Umerov would meet with Russian officials in Istanbul. Kyiv is going into this second round of talks bolstered by its apparent success under the latest operation.
On Sunday, Zelensky reiterated Ukraine’s positions, including an unconditional ceasefire and the return of Ukrainian children taken to Russia. But Moscow’s demands for Ukrainian forces to withdraw from territory it claims remain unpalatable for Kyiv.
Ukrainian negotiators in Istanbul are set to present to the Russian side a proposed roadmap for reaching a lasting peace settlement, the media reported.
The terms will include– no restrictions on Ukraine’s military strength after a peace deal is struck, no international recognition of Russian sovereignty over parts of Ukraine taken by Moscow’s forces, and reparations for Ukraine.
They will also state that the current location of the front line will be the starting point for negotiations about territory.
With Russia and Ukraine refusing to blink, an increasingly frustrated US President Donald Trump, who has bragged about ending the war, is forced to watch from the sidelines. Neither his recent sanction threat to the Russian ruler nor his scoring of the Ukrainian leader in the Oval Office seems to push the two sides any closer to a peace deal.
Trump has demanded that Russia and Ukraine make peace, with a warning that the United States will “walk away” from the war if the two sides are too stubborn to reach a peace deal. He has insisted that it was Biden’s war.
But now, walking away unscathed may not be an option as a cornerstone of his stated foreign policy to be “negotiator in chief” looks decidedly shaky, the reports said.
