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Ukraine strikes first at Russian launchers which carry 800-kg explosive missiles prepared to hit Kyiv after Operation Spiderweb
After the large-scale Ukrainian strike on Russian airfields, Russia was preparing an Iskander missile attack on Kyiv, but Ukraine’s Defense Forces launched a preemptive strike on the launchers in Bryansk Oblast.
Following the 1 June Operation Spiderweb carried out by Ukraine’s Security Service, which targeted 41 aircraft at Russian airfields, Moscow’s officials began threatening with retaliation. In a recent phone call, Russian ruler Vladimir Putin reportedly told US President Donald Trump that he “will have to” respond to the Ukrainian strike on Russian air bases.
Four days after the airfield attack, units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in coordination with the Security Service and other units of the Defense Forces, launched a missile strike on a Russian missile unit concentration area.
“The 26th missile brigade of the Russian military, operating from the area of Klintsy in Bryansk Oblast, was preparing to strike one of the Ukrainian population centers—most likely Kyiv,” the Ukrainian report states.
Due to effective intelligence and coordinated action by the Ukrainian units, the intended targets were successfully hit.
“One Russian missile launcher detonated, and two others were likely damaged,” the statement adds.
The extent of the damage is still being verified.
The General Staff emphasized that the timely and effective combat actions by Ukraine’s defenders helped prevent civilian casualties.
The Russian Iskander-M ballistic missile carries a conventional warhead weighing nearly 800 kilograms. Ukraine counters the missiles with the US-supplied Patriot system. Russia recently modernized the Iskander-M to make interception more difficult: it can now deploy radar decoys and perform evasive maneuvers during its terminal flight phase.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that “with every new strike, with every delay of diplomacy, Russia is showing the middle finger to the entire world—to all those who still hesitate to increase pressure on it.”
