This is a Ukrainian drone flying out of a truck in southeastern Siberia, 2700 miles from the front line, targeting Putin's warplanes deep in the heart of Russian territory. Ukrainian officials said it was part of a clandestine attack [00:00:15] that saw four military airports hit, destroying more than 40 warplanes in the biggest blow of the war against Moscow's long range bomber fleet. In what's being described as a big blow to Russia's air capabilities, Ukraine launched a successful drone attack deep within Russian territory. [00:00:35] In fact, here are some more details on how it all went down. Before we get into what this all means and the potential ramifications, let's take a look. The attack, known as Operation Spider's Web, hit 34% of Russia's strategic cruise missile carriers, causing an estimated $7 billion worth of damage in total. [00:00:55] Ukrainian officials said 117 drones were used, and that the operation took more than a year and a half of planning. The operation didn't involve these long range drones, which we've become used to seeing launched from Ukraine. Instead, these were small drones which were launched from containers on trucks. [00:01:14] We don't yet have the details of exactly how this happened. The SBU has not revealed it. It has shown some photographs of what these containers look like, which were clearly loaded onto the trucks and the way that the drones were concealed within these containers. [00:01:30] We don't know exactly how they got into Russia, but it seems to be that Ukraine has taken advantage of commercial networks to deliver a weapon deep inside the territory of its enemy, [00:01:46] in a way that the Russian security services and military have been stunned by and were absolutely not ready for. Now, reports indicate that these drones were smuggled into Russia over several months. That's what's being put out there by Ukraine. [00:02:02] Ukraine also claims that 41 Russian warplanes were taken out in what they're calling Operation Spiderweb. But that number, to be clear, has not been confirmed yet, so I want everyone to be aware of that. This is what Ukraine is claiming. Ukraine attacked five remote Russian airfields in this attack, [00:02:21] one of them being in Siberia. Now, they also claim that some of the bomber planes that were destroyed are no longer even being manufactured by Russia, and that these type of aircraft are the same aircraft that could deliver a nuclear weapon. [00:02:37] So that is a big deal, if confirmed to be true. Russia hasn't confirmed, by the way, how many aircraft were hit, but they did concede that they suffered damage from Ukraine's attack. Now, Ukraine didn't give the United States any advance warning that they intended to do this. [00:02:53] In fact, a senior CBS senior white House reporter, Jennifer Jacobs, posted on X that the administration sources told CBS news that the white House wasn't aware of today's large scale drone attack by Ukraine on Russian military aircraft. [00:03:09] And also says that US did not share Intel with Zelensky and his team for the operation. Administration sources tell me Ukraine gathered its own information. The Ukrainians also claim that they used their own weapons [00:03:26] and as a result of that, they didn't feel that they needed to talk to the United States prior to launching this attack. But Ukraine is asking the U.S. For more air defense systems. That Trump, by the way, has not agreed to provide them with, at least not yet. [00:03:42] At the same time, the United States, I believe, would have an interest in denying they had anything to do with this. There's no indication that they did have anything to do with this at the moment. Let me be clear. But if they did, I think they'd have an interest in denying it, because, look, [00:03:58] it's difficult to talk about it because Ukraine obviously should be able to defend itself. Russia is the aggressor here. Russia refuses to sign a peace deal. They are standing in the way of peace in this area. However, at the same time, we're entering dangerous territory when commercial supply [00:04:18] chains are now being utilized in order to carry out military attacks. - And I'm curious what you think, Jake. - Yeah. So a lot of things. First, let's start with drones. Okay. The Pentagon spending. What a giant waste. Look at what simple drones did to $7 billion worth of equipment [00:04:37] and planes in Russia. Okay. That's just the Ukrainians. Do you have any idea how many drones the Chinese have? Oh, we have air superiority. Oh, we have giant aircraft carriers. They're all sitting ducks. They're going to get to them somehow. [00:04:52] So stop wasting all of our money on defense spending on these giant projects that that are all sitting ducks. I agree. I think that our taxpayer dollars should be spent on actual defense. [00:05:08] Meaning now that we know how effectively these small drones can be used, like smuggled into a country and used to attack said country. We should actually use defense for defense of the United States, right? Yeah, that's a novel thought. - I know. - Right? I mean, instead of going on the offense for Israel, which is pretty much the only [00:05:28] thing our military ever does, Oh, did you know, during the Iraq war, that Saddam Hussein was a great opponent of al Qaeda? Terrible guy. Al Qaeda. Terrible. But two things can be true at the same time. He would murder anyone that was in al Qaeda. [00:05:44] Al Qaeda attacked us, not Iraq. But at the time, the Israelis said that Iraq was their number one enemy. So we had to go to war with Iraq. Okay. Now, Iran has not attacked us at all. But the number one enemy of Israel is Iran. So they're pushing for war with Iran. Our military is not for us. [00:06:01] It's for Israel. Okay. So yes, I would love for them to do defense. Anyway, now back to Ukraine and Russia. So Anna's right. Super mixed. Really tough. Now on the one hand, the Russians invaded Ukraine. If I'm Ukraine, I'm not going to have a lot of boundaries [00:06:17] for how I deal with the Russians. Over 13,000 civilians were killed already in Ukraine. Right. On the other hand, you attacked this deep inside of Russia, and they're going to want to counterattack, and they're not going to want to get to peace. So on the third hand, you have to show some sort of leverage. Otherwise Russia is going to think, hey, you know what? [00:06:35] I could just run roughshod over Ukraine and there's no consequences. Exactly. So now they think that there's going to be some consequences. On the other hand, they're about to go to Turkey today to work out a peace deal. And obviously the Russians are now not in a mood for peace. [00:06:50] Look, it's this is a difficult story to have a firm opinion on because honestly, Russia made it appear it was very clear to me that the Russians believed that victory was inevitable. [00:07:05] They've been taking control of more and more territory in Ukraine. Ukraine has been losing this war. And so why would Russia agree to, in good faith, engage in peace negotiations if they're winning the war and they can take over even more territory? [00:07:21] So with something as effective as the attack that Ukraine carried out. I can understand the justification. At the same time, though, I don't want to live in a world where commercial supply chains are used to carry out acts of violence and war. [00:07:37] No, I'm very worried about it. That's right. So, more mixed news. So I was on with a supporter of the Russian government on counterpoints on Al-arabia earlier today. And we'll put that up on rt.com. And so he, he said this is a terrible, dastardly attack. [00:07:55] And and then he threatened war with Poland and Romania next. That was interesting. We'll come back to that. Okay. Then later he said it was no big deal. They didn't really hurt us. So I asked him, which one is it, Sergey? Was it no big deal or catastrophic? [00:08:11] Because you seem to be implying both. Right. So the reality is. No, the Russians are super mad about this because this shows that they are not invincible. And so that's a big, big problem for the Russians. They thought they were invincible. And let's not forget, we're talking about a nuclear power as well. [00:08:29] Russia has nuclear weapons, so it is risky to carry out an attack like this as well. Because how is Russia planning to respond? In fact, in that same interview, he then threatened nuclear war. - Of course. - Okay, so now on the one hand, [00:08:46] that's a they're now threatening Roman, Poland and Romania, and they're threatening nuclear war, and they're the ones who did the invasion. Full stop. We got into a discussion about, hey, should NATO get close to Russia's borders yet? No matter what you think of that, Russia attacking three times inside other [00:09:06] sovereign governments is inexcusable. Right. So Russia is definitely wrong. Definitely. In this war period right now, that doesn't mean that we have a great answer for what to do going forward, because they are a nuclear power and they are unhinged. [00:09:23] And Putin thinks that he's the king of the world. And anytime anyone challenges his power, he gets even angrier. And then this guy hilariously talked about how there isn't enough freedom in Ukraine. If anybody opposes Putin, they wind up tripping out of a window in Russia. [00:09:39] Are you talking about freedom? Sham elections? That's a dictatorship for Putin now. So we're stuck. I don't want to spend any more money on that war, and I don't want that war to continue. I don't want any more Ukrainian civilians or soldiers dying or Russian citizens. [00:09:56] I was going to say, or soldiers. But there's barely Russian soldiers there. So if you don't know this, the Russians are will not conscript people into their military because Putin is worried that the the war will become much more unpopular if he drafts people [00:10:12] and forces them to go fight in Ukraine. That's why they're bringing in North Koreans to die for them. And then again, this Russian spokesperson was basically said, no, no, no, the North Koreans want to die for us. - Oh yeah. - Yeah, yeah. - I'm. - Sure. Yeah. Those North Korean soldiers really signed up for that, I'm sure. What a disaster. Now, I know this is a difficult story to have a strong opinion on, but maybe [00:10:31] some of you do have strong opinions and we have a poll asking, Will this attack change the tide of the Russia Ukraine war? Meaning, will this give Ukraine an advantage? Was this a good idea? You have three options. Yes. No or I'm not sure. So tell us what you think. [00:10:48] In answering. And if you're watching this as, a video after the fact, you know, our live audience gets to chime in on some of our stories sometimes, and we have these polls because we want to know what you guys think. So let's put the results up and see where we're at at the moment. [00:11:03] I'm super curious how our audience feels about this story. Yeah. So this is the live chat. We actually have a poll in the live chat on almost every story. And then we have one on tyt.com as well. So this one is also on tight.com. [00:11:18] Because I was so curious, not just, what our general audience on YouTube thinks, but also what our audience. That's mainly more members on rt.com though, you can vote on Titcomb as well. Every time you ring the bell below, an angel gets its wings. [00:11:33] Totally not true, but it does keep you updated on our live shows.