Ukraine's security service released more footage on Saturday which it said showed its attack on Russian war planes at one of the air bases targeted last Sunday.
The footage showed a drone taking off from a truck's roof and swooping low over parked aircraft, as well as planes burning at the Russian military Belaya airbase.
In the span of a few hours last Sunday, nearly a third of Moscow’s strategic bomber fleet was destroyed or damaged with cheaply made drones sneaked into Russian territory, according to Ukrainian officials.
The undertaking by Ukraine’s Security Service, codenamed “Spiderweb,” involved more than 18 months of painstaking planning and great risk.
It was personally overseen by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
It came to fruition at a time in the 3-year-old war when peace talks have failed to deliver the unconditional ceasefire long-sought by Kyiv, and as Moscow continues to launch record-breaking numbers of drone and missile barrages.
The SBU said the drones had highly automated capabilities and were partly piloted by an operator and partly by artificial intelligence which flew the drone along a pre-planned route in the event it lost signal.
Such drones have already been used on the front lines in Ukraine.
The covert operation was described as one for the “history books” by Ukraine’s president.