Russian truck drivers’ Easter binge drinking delayed Ukraine’s Operation Cobweb—SBU chief Malyuk

The June 1 attack, which decimated Russia’s strategic aviation, owed its success to a unique blend of human intelligence and technical innovation, Malyuk told Ukrainian TV broadcasters. The multistage operation relied on 150 FPV attack drones, covert logistics, and specially modified containerized camping cabins deep inside Russia.

“We created a fictitious logistics company in Chelyabinsk,” Malyuk said. Ukrainian agents leased office space and warehouses next to a local FSB office, then bought five cargo trucks. Hired drivers regularly transported mundane goods to maintain cover. When it was time to move the drones, the drivers’ traditional Easter bender “cost us a month,” Malyuk quipped.

The SBU concealed the drones in five prefabricated cabins stocked with EcoFlow batteries, solar panels, and other gear. Each drone carried two 800-gram charges of a custom cumulative-fragmentation explosive designed to burn through an aircraft’s hull before detonating inside.

On the night of June 1, the best FPV operators from the SBU’s Alpha unit simultaneously struck four military airfields: Olenya in Murmansk, Belaya in Irkutsk, Dyagilevo in Ryazan, and Ivanovo. The assault damaged 41 planes, including A-50 AEW&C aircraft and Tu-95, Tu-22M3, and Tu-160 strategic bombers. The hit on Belaya marked Ukraine’s first strike on a target in Siberia.

Under orders from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Malyuk said, only a handful of people knew the full plan.

On June 2, the SBU confirmed that the operation had crippled more than $7 billion worth of Russian military assets. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth later called it “a bold operation,” carried out without consulting the Pentagon.