"An abundance of hungover Russian drivers forced Ukraine to delay its “Pearl Harbor”-style attack on Moscow’s bomber fleet, just one of the hiccups that nearly thwarted the secret operation, according to a new report.
After Kyiv successfully sneaked dozens of drones into Russia for the unprecedented attack this past spring, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) hoped to launch the assault around Russian Victory Day on May 9 to humiliate the Kremlin.
Instead, the festivities around the holiday, as well as Russian Labor Day, and Orthodox Easter, created an unexpected issue — a lack of active drivers to carry out the mission, the Wall Street Journal reported.
For Operation Spider’s Web to be a success, Ukraine was relying on a group of unwitting Russian drivers to transport their drones to the desired locations, with the truckers believing they were only hauling mobile wooden cabins.
Unfortunately, there was a small pool of drivers to choose from during the holiday as hungover drivers took the day off, making it far too risky to carry out the mission, SBU officials told the WSJ.
It wasn’t until the end of May that Kyiv and its agents found the perfect set of drivers to hire for the days-long mission, which was carried out on July 1 and saw 41 Russian bombers damaged and destroyed.
The hungover drivers weren’t the only issue the SBU ran into when trying to pull off the clandestine mission.During the drive to one of the destinations inside Russia, one of the local drivers noticed that the roof of one of the cabins fell off, with the trucker discovering the hidden drones inside.
The shocked driver immediately contacted his employer for an explanation, with the man on the other side of the phone being Artem Timofeev, a 37-year-old former Ukrainian DJ living in Russia who signed up with his wife, an erotic novelist, to put the drones and cabins together for the operation.
Timofeev feigned ignorance when the truck driver called him, with the SBU coaching him on how to lie to the Russian driver and convince him that the drones and wooden cabins were for hunting, according to the WSJ.
The Russian trucker bought the lie, put the roof of the cabin back on, and carried on with his trip.
The SBU saw additional hiccups when one of the trucks suffered a mechanical issue, with SBU officials and Timofeev able to load the cargo into another truck without anyone being the wiser.
Another issue occurred when Kyiv lost connection with two cabins housing the drones due to spotty connections, with officials trying to get a Russian truck driver to fix the issue without being alerted to what he was actually doing.
Eventually, the driver stopped taking Kyiv’s calls, triggering fears within the SBU that the operation may have been compromised, according to the WSJ.
It wasn’t until later that photos and reports online revealed that the cargo had caught on fire, triggering the drones to explode and killing the driver.
Despite all the setbacks and close calls, Operation Spider’s Web was dubbed a success, with 41 Russian heavy bombers and other warplanes hit at four separate airfields thousands of miles from Ukraine." NYP
"Ukraine’s Security Service used Sea Baby naval drones to strike an oil tanker from Russia’s“shadow fleet” in the Black Sea on Dec. 10, critically damaging ship as it sailed through Ukraine’s exclusive economic zone, a source in the agency told the Kyiv Independent.
The tanker, identified as he Comoros-flagged Dashan, was heading toward the Russian port terminal of Novorossiysk at high speed with its automatic identification system switched off when it was hit, resulting in “critical damage” as explosions ripped through the stern area, the source said." KI
"A bright meteor streaked across the sky over Brazil’s Northeast region at nightfall captured
by Clima ao Vivo monitoring cameras in Pernambuco, Paraíba, and Ceará. Preliminary analysis by the Brazilian Meteor Observation Network (BRAMON) indicates the object entered the atmosphere at a speed of around 180 000 km/h (112 000 mph). The event coincided with the active Geminid meteor shower period, one of the most intense annual meteor streams visible from Earth." W
"The U.S. has seized an oil tanker allegedly transporting oil from Venezuela and Iran, Attorney General Pam Bondi has said.The action off the coast of Venezuela took place amid a buildup of U.S. military activity in the region and strikes against what Washington describes as cartel boats.
“Today, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the United States Coast Guard, with support from the Department of War, executed a seizure warrant for a crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran,” Bondi wrote on X on Wednesday.
She said the vessel had been sanctioned “due to its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations.”
The video posted by Bondi shows heavily armed law enforcement officials descending onto the ship from a helicopter." RT
"A strong magnitude 5.3 earthquake occurred in the Solomon Sea near the coast of Papua New Guinea late in the evening at 11.30 pm local time (GMT +10). The quake had a moderate depth of 107 km (67 mi) and was not felt (or at least not reported so)." VD
"A strong magnitude 5.7 earthquake occurred in the North Pacific Ocean 97 km (60 mi) fromAomori, Japan, late in the evening at 11.52 pm local time (GMT +9). The quake had a shallow depth of 36 km (22 mi) and was felt by many near the epicenter. The shallow depth of the quake caused it to be felt more strongly near the epicenter than a deeper quake of similar magnitude would." VD
"234 combat engagements between Ukraine's Defense Forces and Russian invaders were recorded on the frontline.
The Russian army launched airstrikes on the areas of Zlahoda in Dnipropetrovsk region; Novу Pole, Solodke, Zelene, and Huliaipole in Zaporizhzhia region.
In the Northern Slobozhanshchyna and Kursk sectors, Ukrainian defenders repelled eight Russian attacks. The enemy carried out 98 shellings, including three with MLRS.
In the Southern Slobozhanshchyna sector, Ukrainian forces stopped 11 attacks in the areas of Starytsia, Vovchanski Khutory, Vovchansk, Dvorichanske, and toward Synelnykove, Obukhivka, and Kutkivka.In the Kupiansk sector, nine Russian attacks occurred. The Defense Forces repelled the occupiers' assault actions toward Petropavlivka and Kurylivka.
In the Lyman sector, the enemy attacked 27 times, trying to break through the defense in the areas of Novoyehorivka, Hrekivka, Novoselivka, Zarichne, Torske, and toward Cherneshchyna, Oleksandrivka, Drobysheve, Stavky, and Lyman.
In the Sloviansk sector, the Defense Forces repelled 13 Russian attacks near Yampil and toward Sviato-Pokrovske.
In the Kramatorsk sector, there were two combat engagements toward Minkivka.
In the Kostiantynivka sector, the enemy carried out 23 attacks near Oleksandro-Shultyne, Pleshchiivka, Rusyn Yar, Yablunivka, and toward Kostiantynivka, Illinivka, and Sofiivka.
In the Pokrovsk sector, Ukraine's defenders stopped 49 Russian assault actions in the areas of Nykanorivka, Razine, Novoekonomichne, Zvirove, Kotlyne, Udachne, Novomykolaivka, and toward Sofiivka, Kucheriv Yar, Nove Shakhove, Novyi Donbas, Ivanivka, Rodynske, Sukhetske, Chervonyi Lyman, Myrnohrad, Pokrovsk, Hryshyne, Molodetske, Novopavlivka, and Filiia.
In the Oleksandrohrad sector, Russian forces conducted 22 attacks in the areas of Vorone, Stepove, Uspenivka, and toward Ivanivka, Novoselivka, Sosnivka, Zelenyi Hai, Verbove, Vyshneve, Yehorivka, Krasnohirske, and Rybne.
In the Huliaipole sector, the Defense Forces repelled 22 Russian attacks in the area of Solodke and toward Zelene and Huliaipole.
In the Orikhiv sector, the enemy unsuccessfully attempted nine times to break through the defense in the areas of Shcherbaky, Stepove, and toward Mala Tokmachka, Novoandrivka, Stepnohirske, and Prymorske.
In the Prydniprovske sector, the invaders twice unsuccessfully conducted offensive actions near the Antonivskyi Bridge." Ukrin
