What happened

Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) carried out a coordinated covert drone assault on four Russian strategic-bomber bases on 1 June 2025 — Olenya (Murmansk Oblast), Belaya (Irkutsk Oblast, 4,300km from Ukraine), Ivanovo Severny (Ivanovo Oblast) and Dyagilevo (Ryazan Oblast) — with a fifth attempt at Ukrainka (Amur Oblast) failing when the delivery truck caught fire early. Over 100 Ukrainian-made Osa quadcopter drones were smuggled into Russia hidden under the raised roofs of shipping containers loaded onto flatbed trucks, driven unwittingly by Russian drivers and launched remotely by phone command once in position; a Ukrainian national running a freight business allegedly coordinated the scheme, and four detained drivers face terrorism charges, with a fifth killed when his truck exploded. Independent OSINT analysis of satellite imagery confirmed roughly 10-11 Tu-95 and Tu-22M3 strategic bombers destroyed and two A-50 airborne early-warning aircraft targeted at Ivanovo Severny, against Ukraine's own claim of 41 aircraft hit and a US official estimate of about 20 hit with 10 destroyed. Russia's Defense Ministry confirmed damage at Olenya and Belaya; Financial Times reporting, drawing on satellite analysis, put the damaged and destroyed aircraft at roughly 20% of Russia's operational long-range aviation fleet, most of it types out of production since 1991 and effectively irreplaceable. Ukrainian officials estimated $7 billion in damage inflicted using drones costing about $2,000 each. No Russian deaths were reported in the admitted strikes. This record adds one of the single most significant airbase-strike events of the war to the site's coverage, corroborated by BBC, Reuters, Financial Times and Washington Post satellite-imagery analysis.

When cited sources give different casualty, damage or spill figures for this event, they’re reported side by side above rather than merged into one number. See how confidence levels work.