In autumn 2023, says The Wall Street Journal, Volodymyr Zelensky called Ukraine’s intelligence chief into his office and told him to find a way to destroy Russian warplanes deep inside enemy territory. So began Operation Spiderweb, “one of the most audacious covert operations in modern warfare”. The SBU security agency’s plan was for pre-fabricated cabins, transported on the back of trucks, to serve as launchpads for armed drones. They custom-built the roofs to slide open when triggered remotely, and fitted them with batteries and solar panels to keep the drones charged. The country’s top drone pilots trained for months on the dinner plate-sized quadcopters without knowing their target. Once everything was ready, all the kit was broken down into parts and smuggled into Russia.

On the ground were Artem and Kateryna Tymofeyev, a Ukrainian-born former DJ and his tattoo-artist wife. The couple hired a nondescript warehouse in the industrial city of Chelyabinsk, reassembled the 150 drones and eight cabins, and recruited Russian lorry drivers to unwittingly deliver their cargo to the targets. The initial plan was to strike around Russian Victory Day on 9 May, but several drivers were “laid low” by boozing. And when the five trucks finally set off later that month – spreading out across Russia like a spiderweb – there were more issues. One driver rang in a panic after the sliding roof fell off and he saw the “illicit cargo”. (Tymofeyev convinced him the cabins were hunting lodges with drones for tracking animals). When another driver tried to fix a problem in a cabin, the whole thing blew up. But most of the plan went perfectly. Kyiv says the drones struck 41 Russian planes, at least a dozen irreparably. “There was no anxiety,” says one pilot. “We had a specific goal and we knew we would achieve it.”

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This week, along with the fraction of The Knowledge you currently receive, our paying subscribers enjoyed pieces on:

🪂 A horrifying parachute snafu
👀 Where humans come in the mammal “monogamy rankings”
🔫 The fearsome prep-school prefects who inspired Blofeld and Scaramanga
↔️ Why nobody identifies as bisexual anymore
🏎️ The Saudi supercars getting towed in Mayfair
🛠️ The communist Christmas gift guide
🧙‍♂️ The religion UK Christians most often convert to
🥂 Rules for surviving Christmas party season
🍷 The new members club causing chaos in Belgravia

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