Ukraine's massive drone attack deep inside Russia lays bare Putin's vulnerability

It was a stunning, audacious attack whose widespread effects are only just becoming clear.

It was a stunning, audacious attack whose widespread effects are only just becoming clear.

Ukraine managed to smuggle 117 aerial drones on the backs of trucks that deposited them at the perimeter of four Russian air bases — one of them deep inside Siberia some 2,500 miles from Ukraine's borders, according to Ukrainian officials.

While there are differing accounts on the extent of the ensuing damage of Sunday’s “Spiderweb” operation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 40 Russian aircraft — 34% of Russia's strategic cruise missile carriers — were hit. Ukraine's security service, the SBU, put the estimated cost to the Kremlin at $7 billion.

Video released by a Ukrainian Security Service source purportedly shows a drone striking a Russian plane.Source in the Ukrainian Security Service / via APSome military commentators and pro-Russian bloggers have called it the country's "Pearl Harbor" — a reference to Japanese attack in 1941 that saw the United States enter World War II.

It came Sunday, a day before the latest round of direct peace talks between Ukraine and Russia on Monday.