“Washington Post”: Shock for Russia, a signal for the world. The “spider's” operation changes the rules of the war

Just like Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the Ukrainian operation “Spider” carried out on Sunday wrote the principles of martial art – Max Boot, “Washington Post” commentator and expert of the American Council of Foreign Relations on Monday, said on Monday.

No one was able to imagine that on Sunday, December 7, 1941, the Imperial Navy of Japan would flow unnoticed to the whole ocean to attack what American strategies called “Undedress Fortress”, i.e. the Pearl Harbor base in Hawaii. Enemy machines that started from six aircraft carriers, destroyed or damaged 328 American aircraft and sank or damaged 19 ships, including eight battleships – reminds Boot in the Washington daily.

The attack on Pearl Harbor again wrote the principles of martial art and opened the chapter that planes became the dominant force in the maritime war. A similarly Sunday operation “Spider”, which had to be an absolute shock to the Russians, just like the attack of the Japanese Navy for Americans, writes a new chapter of martial art – the author says.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) informed that as part of a special operation, consisting of simultaneously hitting drones to four military airports in Russia, 41 aircraft of Russian strategic aviation were damaged, including A-50, Tu-95, Tu-22 M3 and Tu-160. The head of the Ukrainian government center of counteracting disinformation (CPD) Andrij Kaluenko, in turn, said that as a result of the “spider” surgery at least 13 aircraft was destroyed.

It is not surprising that Russian bloggers began to compare Ukrainian surgery to Pearl Harbor. The comparison is not entirely adequate, because the attack of the imperial fleet in the US meant the beginning of a new war, while “spidercasts” was another attempt to defend against aggressor – reserves Boot.

However, this analogy makes sense because both of these attacks meant the beginning of the end of “once dominant weapon systems: battleships in 1941 and crewed aircraft currently” – emphasizes the commentator.

Boot points out that the history of “Spajęczyna” surgery will now spend the generals and strategists of the eyelids. If Ukrainian drones were unnoticed to reach very significant aerial bases in the “police state, which is Russia, what will prevent the Chinese from a similar attack on the US air base? Or Pakistani on Indian bases? Or North Korea on the South Korean bases?”

The “spider” surgery will not be a decisive blow in this war. But just like Pearl Harbor was a signal that Japan would be a much more dangerous opponent than most of the West thought, so now the Sunday attack proves that Ukrainians are much more talented, flexible and brave soldiers than anyone could expect – summed up the author.

Experts: Ukrainian attack on Russian military airports changes thinking about armed conflicts

The attack on military airports in the depths of Russia is not only the multi -level success of Ukraine; The operation will have far -reaching geopolitical effects and will change the way of thinking about armed conflicts – assess experts Robert Pięszel from OSW and Marek Budzisz from Strategy & Future.

As Robert Pięszel, an expert of the Eastern Studies Center in Warsaw and former director of the NATO Information Bureau in Moscow, the Operation of Ukraine Security Service under the code name “Spider” was not only a military and propaganda success. “Ukrainians – not for the first time – have shown that they have the ability to reverse the equation in the field of strategy used by the Russians, i.e. conducting, as they call it, a cognitive war, consisting in sowing fear of the opponent,” explained the analyst and added that the attack also exposed the helplessness of Russian services, which is what Putin's regime – a system of total control and security.

The bee not only drew attention to the finesse and effectiveness of the operation, but also the time of its conduct. In his opinion, this was an important signal before peace talks in Istanbul. “The game all the time is about the support of the American administration. Donald Trump said several times that the Ukrainians in this war have no cards. And with this action Ukrainians showed that they have,” he emphasized.

According to Marek Budzisz, an analytics of Strategy & Future, the attack opens a new stage, and not only in the Russian -Ukrainian war, but in general – in thinking about armed conflicts.

“Using relatively inexpensive systems, goals with a very high strategic meaning are destroyed. Until now, we only knew this impact formula,” said the analyst.

He pointed out that Ukrainians in practice used two concepts developed for a long time, which will determine the direction of the evolution of unmanned systems. The first is the use of artificial intelligence module. “Thanks to it, you do not need to use radio waves to pilot the drone by the operator. And if you already use them, it is more difficult to drown out this type of attack system and it is more difficult to destroy,” he explained, wakes up and added that the second innovative element is the use of individual systems, but the rugs of drones.

According to the expert, the action will forever change the approach to communication security around the world. “Actually, all world trade is currently taking place in a container system. Each of such containers can be an element of aggression, because dormant systems, activated in a timely manner, for example in the port, can lead to the destruction of critical objects” – explained the interlocutor of PAP.

As Budzisz noted, the effect of Ukrainian services may also be a nuclear balance disorder. It is estimated that before the war, Russia had 55 strategic bombers. The number of those damaged or damaged in a Sunday attack still requires confirmation by sources other than SBU, while – according to the expert – it may turn out that one of the components of the Russian nuclear triad has become serious.

The Strategy & Future analyst drew attention to another far -reaching effect of “spider” surgery. The bombers destroyed on Sunday were based in open space due to the regulations contained in the New Start Treaty signed in 2010 by the US and Russia (in 2023 Putin announced that he suspends participation in Russia in the Treaty, but he does not withdraw from it – PAP). This solution was aimed at enabling each page to count, which the other side has. “If the planes were in hangars, they would not be destroyed,” the expert pointed out and explained that this could lead the Russians to secure other machines. And the lack of verification mechanisms will make it difficult to build a new disarmament order or some contracts stabilizing the global situation at the strategic level.

On Sunday, SBU was a blow to four Russian military airports in the Amurski, Iwan, Murmansk and Ryazan region. As a result of the attack or damage, the priceless for Russian Air Force was to be subject to, among others Tu-95MS and Tu-22M3 strategic bombers as well as an an aircraft of early A-50U warning and IL-22 reconnaissance. For the attack, drone swarms were used, which started from containers delivered with trucks near the targets probably by unaware of this drivers.

According to the Institute for The Study of War, citing sources in SBU, 41 machines were destroyed, and the estimated value of Russian hardware losses is about USD 7 billion. The action was the culmination of 18 months of preparation.

The President of Ukraine Wołodymyr Zelanski reported that 117 drones were used in the action, and 34 percent were to be looted. Russian strategic bombers capable of carrying maneuvering rockets.

The analysis published on Euromaidan Press the day after the attack shows that the training of artificial intelligence systems in unmanned ships used for attack lasted since last year. By introducing thousands of photos, they were taught to find and recognize specific types of Russian machines.

The Ukrainian defense budget for this year assumes that USD 2.6 billion, which is one -fifth of all arms purchases, will be intended for drones. (PAP)

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