Ukraine’s military claims to have struck two fighter jets stationed at an airfield 400 miles into Russian territory, just days after launching its audacious Operation Spiderweb.
Kyiv did not say how the planes were hit in the fresh attack by Ukrainian special operations forces on the Savasleyka airfield, and there was no immediate comment from Russia. However, Russian war bloggers claimed there had been no damage to the warplanes.
It will cause further concern for Vladimir Putin after Ukraine destroyed swathes of his bomber fleet last month in a long-planned drone attack on Russian airbases.
The latest strike came as Ukraine welcomed home another group of prisoners from Russian captivity, in an exchange agreed last week in Istanbul and set to continue over the coming days.
Warning that “negotiations continue virtually every day”, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said: “We are doing everything possible to bring back every single person.”
The rare exchange follows Russia’s largest overnight drone bombardment of the war so far, with Ukrainian air forces reporting 479 drones and 20 missiles of various types were fired at different parts of the country.
