Ukraine releases new footage of daring AI strikes that crippled Putin’s bomber fleet

KYIV — Ukrainian security services on Wednesday released new video of the audacious "Spiderweb" strikes on the Kremlin's nuclear-capable bombers deep inside Russia.

“During the operation, modern UAV control technology was used, which combines autonomous artificial intelligence algorithms and manual operator intervention,” said the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, the country’s main counterintelligence agency.

"During the flight, some drones lost signal and switched to performing a mission using artificial intelligence along a preplanned route. After approaching and contacting a specifically designated target, the warhead was automatically activated,” the SBU added.

As evidence, the SBU released a collection of new video footage that shows Ukrainian drones hitting engines, antennas, wings and other parts of different Russian strategic and reconnaissance aircraft at four military airfields located thousands of kilometers inside Russia.

Russia frequently uses those airfields to bomb Ukraine’s cities with ballistic and cruise missiles.

“Among the hit aircraft were 'A-50,' 'Tu-95,' 'Tu-22,' 'Tu-160,' as well as 'An-12' and 'Il-78,'” the SBU said, claiming that its clandestine operation caused more than $7 billion worth of financial damage to Russia.

Open source intelligence experts and journalists have confirmed, using newly released satellite footage, the destruction of at least 11 strategic bombers.

The "Spiderweb" drone operation stunned the world with its audacity, with some keen watchers praising Ukraine for rewriting the rules of modern warfare and others, like U.S. Special Envoy on Ukraine Keith Kellogg, expressing concern about the tactics.

“When you attack an opponent's part of the national survival system, which is their triad, their nuclear triad — that means your risk level goes up because you don't know what the other is going to do … It's a very emboldened act. And when you do that, it’s very clear that the risk levels will go up. That is what we try to avoid,” Kellogg told Fox News on Tuesday.

The strikes boosted morale in Ukraine, where Russian troops are pushing forward in the eastern Donetsk and Kharkiv regions, and are now expanding their offensive in Ukraine’s northeastern region of Sumy.

The Russian Defense Ministry downplayed the drone attacks on its airfields, claiming that bombers were hit at only two sites, in the Irkutsk and Murmansk regions.

Attacks on military airfields in the Ivanovo, Ryazan, and Amur regions were repelled, the ministry said in a statement on Telegram. No military or civilian personnel were hurt, it added.

Russian authorities are investigating the incident as terrorism.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the "Spiderweb" attacks would never have happened if Moscow had agreed to Ukraine's unconditional ceasefire proposal.

“Today, I awarded our Security Service warriors for the important operation to destroy 41 Russian aircraft, half of which is beyond repair, and another part will be repairing for years, if at all. Absolutely legitimate military target. Such operations help counter Russian terror,” Zelenskyy said at a press briefing Wednesday.

“Had there been a ceasefire before our operation, there'd be no operation. Wanting a ceasefire doesn't mean we do nothing in the meantime,” he added.