A devastating Ukraine drone attack deep in Russia struck several scattered airfields on Sunday, the day before peace talks are scheduled to begin in Turkey. Ukrainian officials said 41 "strategic aircraft" at four airfields, including strategic bombers, were destroyed. Local Russian officials confirmed the drones struck deep in Russian territory, the Washington Post reports, including Siberia for the first time. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who confirmed Sunday that a delegation still will attend the Istanbul negotiations, had supervised the planning of the operation for more than 18 months, government officials said.
Intelligence officers from the security service launched the drones from trucks that had been placed and covered near Russian airbases thousands of miles from Ukraine, per Axios. Ukraine said the destroyed planes had been used to attack its cities, and Telegram channels tied to Russian security services said drones had attacked long-range bases in the Kola Peninsula and in the Irkutsk region. Usolye-Sibirskoye residents posted videos of drones buzzing overhead, as well as large explosions and plumes of smoke, per the Post. "Is this the 11th?" one witness says. Russian officials reported no injuries and said several suspects were being held.
Russia's defense ministry said the attacks were fought off, though "several pieces of aviation equipment caught fire," per the BBC. Influential pro-war bloggers and military journalists in Russia called for retaliation. "This is a reason to launch nuclear strikes on Ukraine," one wrote on Telegram. Zelensky said that Russia has been given his terms for peace before the talks, per the Post: "The first is a complete and unconditional ceasefire. The second is the release of prisoners. The third is the return of the stolen children." Saying that the biggest issues can be negotiated only by the leaders, Zelensky also called for a meeting "at the highest level" to establish a lasting peace. (More Russia-Ukraine war stories.)
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