Ukraine called it Operation Spider Web, a sweeping overnight drone assault deep inside Russia. More than 100 drones struck airbases across five time zones, damaging or destroying dozens of warplanes, including long-range strategic bombers.

Military analysts say the strike, launched in the early hours of June 1, 2025, is a wake-up call not just for Russia, but for the world. It showed how accessible, low-cost technology, coupled with sharp strategy, can deliver devastating precision from hundreds of miles away.

In the days that followed, the how began to emerge: trailers filled with explosive-laden drones were quietly transported to highways near Russian airbases, hauled by unsuspecting civilian truckers. At the right moment, a hatch opened. The drones burst into the night sky on a pre-planned trajectory straight for Russian bombers.

But what remained a mystery was how Ukrainian drone pilots operating from within Ukraines own territory were able to maintain control over drones so far behind enemy lines.

Yaniv Benbenisti, President and Chief Product Officer of Israeli counter-drone firm D-FEND Solutions, believes hes cracked the code.

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"The truck was able to provide a very stable communication back to Ukraine, based on cellular communication," Benbenisti told Scripps News. When you analyze the airbase, you see very good cellular reception on the highway away from the base itself.

Ukrainian forces used the trucks as relay points, maintaining radio communication with the drones while avoiding Russias attempts to jam signals near its bases.

Ukraine even released video of the trailer self-destructing after the drones launched. "That makes sense," Benbenisti said, because once the mission is over, you want to destroy any evidence of the tech that was installed."

Among that tech: a system that let the drones switch to autopilot after launch, flying on pre-programmed paths to the targets. So even if GPS was jammed, the drones could keep going.

When they got close enough, Ukrainian pilots re-established control indicated by a no fail mode flashing on their screensand manually steered the drones into the bombers fuel tanks.

They arent hiding the fact they used ArduPilot, I noted to Benbenisti, referencing the open-source autopilot software popular among DIY drone makers. I imagine they customized it.

"Actually, not much," he replied. Its a very straightforward use of commercial tech.

In other words, the strike didnt require classified tools or billion-dollar weapons systems. Just some clever code. A trailer. And a plan.

"Thats why this is so interesting," I said. "Its not enough to block GPS. Not enough to jam cell service. Its not going to cut it anymore."

"Exactly," Benbenisti said. All these traditional countermeasures are useless when youre dealing with small, low-cost flying objects that arent relying on GPS."

So what can be done?

"We look at the communication link between the drone and the pilots ground station," he explained. "Thats the weak point."

And thats where firms like D-FEND come in with hardware designed to sever the video link pilots depend on for precision strikes. This was covered by Scripps News Liz Landers.

"No feed, no strike," I said.

"Unless..." Benbenisti replied.

Unless the drone doesnt need a feed. Unless facial recognition and autonomous targeting are built into the drone itself.

"It just needs to get close enough, he said. Then it can pinpoint the person."

In that case, I asked, whats the defense?

"At that point," he said, its probably too late.

So, should Operation Spider Web be seen as a wake-up call?

"Absolutely," Benbenisti said. This tech wont stay in Ukraine and Russia. Its available to you, me, anyone. A few thousand dollars is all it takes to carry out a very severe attack.

Amid the wreckage of war in Ukraine, one pattern stands out: schools, struck again and again, in what Ukraine says is a systematic targeting of the country's children.

Using satellite images, maps, photos and Ukrainian data, a Scripps News visual investigation found that since February 2022, nearly 4,000 of Ukraine's 13,000 educational institutions have been damaged by Russian bombs and shells. The Ministry of Education says nearly 400 have been completely destroyed.

The toll spans the entire system, from kindergartens and vocational schools to colleges and universities. More than 1,400 kindergartens, around 1,900 schools, and over 500 other facilities were damaged or destroyed.

The data shows no region has suffered more damage to its schools than Kharkiv. Since the war began, more than 800 educational institutions in the region have been damaged, including over 300 kindergartens and nearly 400 schools.

14-year-old Yeva Yatsyk's school is one of them. In July 2022, her school was destroyed in a Russian missile attack. No one was inside when the missile hit, as students had already been forced to study from home because of the war.

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"It is a horrible situation, I think, because, like, thousands of students don't have an opportunity to keep learning," Yatsyk said. "It was like losing a part of myself because it was a place where I grew up, where I like, make memories and where I plan my future."

First with the pandemic, and then Russia's invasion, for the better part of four years, there was no going to school for Yatsyk. And then, last fall in Kharkiv, in-person education resumed, but not in the way students were used to. Classrooms now exist in underground bunkers and the subway.

Scripps News joined Yatsyk on her first day back to something resembling a real school.

"It was amazing," Yatsyk said of her first day back. "I met my classmates, and we were so happy. I miss the most, like, the communication with my classmates because it is important, especially as a teenager, to have friends your age to talk with."

When asked if it felt normal to go to school in the subway, Yatsyk said yes.

"I think it's more normal than on computer," she said.

Online learning is not completely done away with, however. Yatsyk told Scripps News she only gets to attend school in person twice a week. The rest is on a computer.

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Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov acknowledged that this setup is not sustainable.

"You know, this is not enough. We understand that," Terekhov said. "But compared to the fact that they studied online, this is something at least."

Returning to school as it once was before February 2022 is still not an option.

"We can't have real schools, because the S-300 missile is flying to Kharkiv from the territory of the Russian Federation in less than a minute, 50 seconds," Terekhov said.

Students only have one minute of warning before deadly explosives can turn Kharkiv's schools into part of the battlefield.

Among those hit, Scripps News identified Kharkiv School No. 17 with a gaping hole in its wall after Russian shelling in March 2022. This school was one of three hit during that attack, which targeted numerous civilian areas across Kharkiv city.

Also in Kharkiv, School No. 35 was also destroyed by Russian shelling. The principal inside during the attack miraculously survived.

In February 2022, Russian troops occupied Kharkiv school No. 134, a German-language specialty school, and made a last stand there. In an intense battle, the building was engulfed in flames.

But Ukraine's students are resilient. In the shadows of the ruins and rubble of School No. 134, a group of students performed the traditional graduation dance with a video posted online for all to see.

It was an act of resistance in the face of war.

Ukrainian intelligence officials released new footage on Tuesday showing a dramatic series of drone strikes on Russian airfields, targeting some of Moscows most strategic, nuclear-capable aircraft.

The video, set to dramatic music, depicts more than 35 first-person view (FPV) drones slamming into Russian military aircraft thousands of miles from the front lines. Among the primary targets were Russias TU-95 and TU-22 bombers, which have been used to launch cruise missiles at Ukrainian cities.

Even more damaging, officials said, were strikes on two A-50 airborne radar planes a critical surveillance asset often referred to as the eyes and ears of the Russian air force.

The footage also revealed trucks transporting what appeared to be prefabricated structures. Inside, drones were hidden and positioned near Russian air bases. In one clip, a rooftop slides open and drones are launched into the sky.

Ukrainian officials said the drones employed artificial intelligence. When communication links were severed, the drones automatically switched to autonomous mode, followed pre-programmed routes and used machine vision to identify and strike explosive targets.

A high-level Ukrainian delegation is currently in Washington, D.C., and is expected to show more of the footage to members of Congress as part of an effort to secure additional U.S. weapons sales.