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WSJ Opinion: Potomac Watch

Ukraine's Surprise Drone Operation Hits Russian Bases

WSJ Opinion: Potomac Watch

The Wall Street Journal

Society & Culture, News

42.7K Ratings

🗓️ 3 June 2025

⏱️ 23 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The daring Ukrainian attack reportedly involved sneaking drones into Russian territory, far from the front lines, until they were activated to strike Vladimir Putin's parked bombers. How much might this success affect the dynamic at the front lines? And as drone warfare changes the nature of the Ukraine conflict, is America paying attention to its own possible vulnerabilities? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:32.2

From the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal, this is Potomac Watch.

0:38.6

Ukraine makes a daring drone attack on Russian warplanes, including strategic bombers,

0:44.7

stationed at airbases deep inside Russian territory. What does this operation say about the

0:50.2

capabilities of Ukraine's defenders, America's interests in this conflict, and the U.S.

0:55.6

own potential vulnerabilities to drone warfare. Welcome, I'm Kyle Peterson with the Wall Street

1:02.3

Journal. We're joined today by my colleagues, editorial board member Jillian Maltcher in London,

1:08.2

and columnist Kim Strassel. Operation Spider-web, as the Ukrainians are calling it,

1:14.2

was more than a year in the making. Reportedly, it involved smuggling more than 100 drones into

1:20.2

Russian territory and stationing them near Russian air bases, including one in Siberia,

1:26.2

far from the front lines of the Ukraine war. On Sunday,

1:30.3

that drone fleet was engaged, and the videos now circulating are quite striking. Russian

1:36.1

warplanes parked in a neat little line on the tarmac as they are hit with explosions and

1:42.0

begin billowing thick black smoke.

1:44.4

Here is Ukraine's president Vladimir Zelensky, speaking in Lithuania Monday about the strike.

1:50.6

Operation Spider-Web showed that modern war really looks like and why it's so important to stay ahead with technology.

2:01.6

All our joint investments in drone production, all our shared battlefield experience,

2:08.6

everything we are doing together with our partners, it's making Europe stronger.

...

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