Media: US defence secretary gets regular updates on Ukraine no dialogue with Kyiv yet

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth received regular briefings while traveling to Joint Base Andrews on June 1 but has not yet communicated directly with Ukrainian officials.  

Ukrainian forces have destroyed dozens of Russian warplanes stationed at air bases far from the front lines in an operation called “Spiderweb”, Caliber.Az reports via CNN.

This drone strike targeted locations deep inside Russia, including Belaya—closer to Japan than Ukraine - and Olenya base near Murmansk in the Arctic Circle. 

Reports indicate that over 40 Russian aircraft were set ablaze at four different airfields. Ukraine’s domestic intelligence agency, the SBU, estimated the damages at around $7 billion and said the strikes affected 34 per cent of Russia’s strategic cruise missile carriers based at key airfields. The drone attacks took place just before planned peace talks in Istanbul between Russia and Ukraine, which were already fragile due to uncertainty and pressure from US President Donald Trump.

Notably, the Trump administration was not informed in advance about the operation. These strikes seem aimed at signaling to Russia that Ukraine remains capable of exerting military pressure more than three years after Russia’s unprovoked invasion. Kyiv has accused President Vladimir Putin of resisting peace efforts, even as Moscow intensifies its attacks, including launching its largest drone offensive against Ukraine. 

The operation, which took over 18 months to plan, involved smuggling drones into Russian territory, concealing them in wooden mobile houses on trucks, and then remotely deploying them to carry out the attacks. Targeted airfields included Belaya in Irkutsk, about 4,500 kilometers from Ukraine’s border; Dyagilevo in Ryazan, a training centre for Russia’s strategic bombers; Olenya near Murmansk in the Arctic Circle; and Ivanovo air base, a hub for Russian military transport planes.

By Naila Huseynova