Two A-50 aircraft at Ivanovo airfield may have been damaged during SSU’s "Spider’s Web" operation - The Telegraph
According to intelligence reports, Ukraine damaged at least two A-50 reconnaissance aircraft during the SSU's "Spider's Web" operation.
This is reported by The Telegraph, Censor.NET informs.
"Footage clearly showed one of the Ukrainian drones hitting the radar dome of a hulking Soviet-era spy plane sitting on the apron of an air base," journalists write with reference to intelligence data.
The aircraft was protected by what appeared to be sandbags laid across its wings.
The second A-50, covered by tyres carefully spread across its surface, was also likely attacked by a Ukrainian drone that landed on its radar dome.
According to the publication it is not clear whether the Russian A-50s were destroyed, but even damaging the aircraft would be considered "a prized scalp" by the Ukrainians.
Satellite imagery dated 2 May, almost a month before the SSU operation, shows two A-50 aircraft parked next to each other at the "Ivanovo-Severny" airbase.
The video shows that these are the same two A-50 aircraft, as one of their radar housings is brown in colour.
Moscow was believed to have only seven operational versions of the spy planes, which the International Institute for Strategic Studies estimates cost $318 million each. The A-50s are considered very important for organising Russia's air defence and coordinating fighters and bombers attacking Ukraine, the article says.
SSU's special operation "Spider's Web"
According to Censor.NET sources, on June 1, the Security Service of Ukraine carried out a special operation codenamed "Spider's Web", launching a massive drone strike on Russian strategic aviation airfields.
The airfields targeted included Olenya, Belaya, Dyagilevo, and Ivanovo. A total of 41 Russian aircraft were hit, including A-50, Tu-95, and Tu-22M3 models.
Later, the SSU clarified that the estimated value of the strategic aviation assets damaged in today’s operation amounts to approximately $7 billion.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was briefed on Operation "Spider's Web" by the head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Vasyl Maliuk.
On 3 June, the General Staff clarified that 41 Russian military aircraft had been damaged as a result of a special operation by the Security Service of Ukraine on 1 June 2025.
A number of media outlets also reported that Ukraine had not informed US President Donald Trump's administration in advance of the SSU's "Spider's Web" special operation against Russian airfields with strategic bombers.
At the same time, according to CNN, US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth received regular updates on the SSU's "Spider's Web" special operation to target Russian long-range aircraft.
