Ukraine says it completed its biggest long-range attack of the war with Russia on Sunday, after using smuggled drones to launch a series of major strikes on at least 40 Russian warplanes at four military bases.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said 117 drones were used in the so-called “Spider’s Web” operation by the SBU security service, striking “34 percent of Russia’s strategic cruise missile carriers”.
SBU sources told BBC News it took a year-and-a-half to organise the strikes.
Russia confirmed Ukrainian attacks in five regions, calling them a “terrorist act”.
The attacks come as Russian and Ukrainian negotiators are heading to Istanbul, Turkey, for a second round of peace talks on Monday.
Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Ukrainian government’s centre for counteracting disinformation, said at least 13 Russian aircraft were destroyed and others damaged.
The talks are expected to start around 13:00 local time (10:00 GMT) at the Ciragan Palace.
Expectations are low, as the two warring sides remain far apart on how to end the war.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities reported a massive drone and missile attack on their territory over the weekend.
At least six people, including a seven-year-old child, were injured following a strike in Kharkiv in the early hours of Monday, the region’s governor said.
Elsewhere, Russia’s state news agency Ria said the country’s security service thwarted an attempted arson attack in the east.
It said two residents in the Primorye region were attempting to sabotage a railway track on Ukraine’s orders.
SBU sources earlier told BBC News that Sunday’s attack involved drones hidden in wooden mobile cabins, with remotely operated roofs on trucks, brought near the airbases and then fired “at the right time”.
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In several posts on social media late on Sunday, Zelensky said he congratulated SBU head Vasyl Maliuk with the “absolutely brilliant result” of the operation.
He said that each of the 117 drones launched had its own pilot.
“The most interesting thing, and we can already say this publicly, is that the ‘office’ of our operation on Russian territory was located right next to the FSB of Russia in one of their regions,” the Ukrainian president said.
The FSB is Russia’s powerful state security service.
Zelensky also said that all the people involved in the operation had been safely “led away” from Russia before the strikes.
The SBU estimated the damage to Russia’s strategic aviation was worth about $7bn (£5bn), promising to unveil more details soon.
The Ukrainian claims have not been independently verified.
Sources in the SBU earlier on Sunday told the BBC in a statement that four Russian airbases, two of which are thousands of miles from Ukraine, were hit.
The airbases are Belaya in Irkutsk oblast (region), Siberia, Olenya in Murmansk oblast, Russia’s extreme north-west, Dyagilevo in central Ryazan oblast and Ivanovo in central Ivanovo oblast
The SBU sources said that among the hit Russian aircraft were strategic nuclear-capable bombers called Tu-95 and Tu-22M3, as well as A-50 early warning warplanes.
They described the whole operation as “extremely complex logistically”.
“The SBU first smuggled FPV drones into Russia, followed later by mobile wooden cabins. Once on Russian territory, the drones were hidden under the roofs of these cabins, which had been placed on cargo vehicles,” the sources said.
“At the right moment, the roofs were remotely opened, and the drones took off to strike the Russian bombers.”
Irkutsk Governor Igor Kobzev confirmed drones that attacked the Belaya military base in Sredniy, Siberia, were launched from a truck.
Kobzev posted on Telegram to say that the launch site had been secured and there was no threat to life.
Russian media outlets have also reported that other attacks were similarly started with drones emerging from the lorries.
One user is heard saying that the drones were flying out of a Kamaz truck near a petrol station.