Bribing Russian customs officials enabled Ukraine’s Operation Cobweb — SBU
Ukraine’s SBU security service had to bribe Russian customs
officials in order to smuggle the equipment necessary to launch Operation Cobweb, which targeted Russia’s strategic bomber fleet, SBU head Vasyl Malyuk
said on June 23.
Modular camping houses concealing Ukrainian drones used in the attack had to be equipped with autonomous power supply, Malyuk told reporters.
“The houses were designed to be autonomous because we had to consider operations during winter, even at temperatures as low as –50°C,” he said.
“They included solar panels and EcoFlow batteries that would constantly power the drones. It was essential that the drones took off fully charged.”
Malyuk then explained that getting the drone shelters inside Russia was not trivial: some of their components, such as EcoFlow batteries and solar panels, are subject to international sanctions and cannot be legally imported into Russia. The SBU then turned to bribing Russian customs officials.
“EcoFlow, solar panels—all these items are subject to sanctions; we were forced to bribe Russian customs officials to get everything through,” the SBU head said.
On June 1, Ukraine launched Operation Cobweb, targeting Russian strategic aviation at four airfields: Olenya (Murmansk Oblast), Belaya (Irkutsk), Dyagilevo (Ryazan), and Ivanovo. Following the strikes, open-source intelligence (OSINT) analysts observed that Moscow began relocating many of its strategic aircraft — including Tu-160s, Tu-95MS bombers, and Tu-22M3s — to airfields in Russia’s Far East.
According to OSINT group AviVector, at least seven Tu-160s were moved from Irkutsk to Anadyr (Chukotka), Yelizovo (Kamchatka), and Kazan. Eleven Tu-22M3s were reportedly transferred to Ukrainka airbase in Amur Oblast. Some Tu-95MS bombers previously stationed at Engels were also moved to these more remote locations.
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