Ukrainian drones destroy Russian bombers

The operation does not change the balance of power, the Süddeutsche Zeitung argues:

“Russia has not only more long-range bombers at disposal. ... Its military deployment on the border with Ukraine, estimated at an additional 125,000 soldiers, and the attacks by the already 640,000 Russian soldiers in Ukraine continue. Russia's maximum demands remain in place and Ukraine continues to suffer from a shortage of urgently needed new soldiers. After the masterful 'Operation Spider's Web', Ukraine has good reason to be happy about having subjected the aggressor Russia to an unprecedented humiliation, but it has no reason to breathe a sigh of relief.”

The Ukrainian drone attack reaching as far as remote Siberia demonstrates a new type of warfare with far-reaching consequences, comments Fakti.bg:

“With this technology, distances become meaningless. Whether it's St. Petersburg or Vladivostok, if you hide a drone in one of the millions of trucks or containers travelling on the roads of a modern, developed country, any target can be hit. The only way to prevent this is to freeze - or all but freeze - all domestic traffic in the country. But that, in turn, would cause even more damage, economically and otherwise, than the drone attack itself.”

Comparing the attack to Pearl Harbor is yet another Russian war lie, warns political scientist Karmo Tüür in Õhtuleht:

“This narrative casts Russia as the innocent victim which now has the right to take revenge. ... For outsiders, it's clear that these self-same Russian fighter jets have been wreaking death and destruction in Ukrainian cities for years, and that this was purely an act of self-defence by Ukraine aimed at reducing Moscow's chances of continuing these atrocities. But this attack deep in enemy territory was so damaging to Moscow's self-esteem that the false narrative of Pearl Harbor was introduced.”

Ukraine can now strike back at Russia using Western weapons, De Telegraaf notes:

“In the more than three years of war, Ukraine has had to refrain from attacking Russian territory at the urging of Western allies, who feared escalation. The spectacular drone attack, aimed at legitimate military targets in Russia, falls entirely within the right to self-defence. For far too long Ukraine has been prevented from exercising this right by fearful leaders in the West.”

La Repubblica fears a nuclear counterattack:

“Kyiv's intelligence service has decimated the squadrons of strategic bombers, one of the key elements of Moscow's nuclear arsenal. ... The Russian Ministry of Defence could not deny it: dozens of videos show large aircraft bursting into flames. These videos circulating on social media are the deepest wound to the strong-man image on which Vladimir Putin has built his authority. Now everyone is worried about his reaction. According to Moscow's rules, this attack on strategic bases suffices to trigger the authorisation of a nuclear response against Ukraine.”

Political scientist Petro Oleshchuk discusses in a Facebook post how the US might react:

“Today, the nuclear balance between Russia and the United States has shifted significantly in favour of the US - without it having done anything to achieve this. This is a gift from Ukraine to Trump - the first 'victory' of his presidency. Not fabricated, but real. ... We will receive no gratitude for this but only more talk of 'escalation' and 'disappointment'. But there is an interesting aspect: does the SBU's 'Operation Spider's Web' mean that President Zelensky now has enough 'cards' in his hand? Or does Trump need more?”

Commenting on the drone attack on Facebook, Refat Chubarov, Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, says that Kyiv has significantly strengthened its negotiating position:

“The Russian side had planned to dramatically present its 'memorandum' at the negotiations in Istanbul, which in reality represents another ultimatum to Ukraine and the world, and then leave the negotiating venue with the same arrogance, the message being: the ball is now in Ukraine's court. However, the attacks on Russian infrastructure objects of recent days have fundamentally changed the situation: the Russian 'memorandum' has now become meaningless even before being made public.”

In a Facebook post, historian and political scientist Sergei Medvedev sees a profound change in the understanding of military power:

“This is further proof that the future belongs to drones. This is asymmetric warfare in which the most expensive weapons of the 20th century, worth billions of dollars, are defeated by networked weapons of the 21st century which cost only a few thousands. And a vast country spanning nine thousand kilometres, proud of its remoteness and strategic depth, finds itself exposed and vulnerable. ... Significantly, the blow was not directed against soldiers but against a symbolic pillar of Russian power.”