‘Ukraine Can Play This Game Too’: Kellogg Warns Drone Strikes on Russian Nuclear Bombers Raise Risk Level

US Special Representative Keith Kellogg said that drone strikes on Russian airfields hosting strategic aviation posed a threat to key components of Russia’s nuclear arsenal.

In comments to Fox News, he raised concerns that when the nuclear triad (the three-pronged nuclear force structure of land-based, submarine-launched and strategic bombers) is at risk, the danger of escalation increases significantly.

On Sunday, June 1, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) officially confirmed it had carried out a major drone strike against Russian military airfields, damaging or destroying what it claims is 34 percent of Russia’s strategic cruise missile carriers, in a long-planned covert operation codenamed “Spiderweb.”

Kyiv Post’s sources within Ukraine’s intelligence services confirmed that at least 41 bombers were damaged or destroyed during the operation.

On Tuesday, June 3, in the wake of the attack, Kellogg noted that Russia’s response to such strikes is impossible to predict with certainty, that this was exactly what the United States is trying to avoid, as reaching that level of escalation was “unacceptable.”

Speaking on Fox News, Kellogg explained how, in the initial face-to-face meetings between Ukrainian and Russian negotiators, the Ukrainians presented “reasonable” proposals, whereas the Russians offered “maximalist” demands.

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He said that Ukraine’s drone strike “showed that Ukraine is capable of hitting Russian targets deep inside their own territory.” He emphasized that modern warfare has entered a new phase defined by drone technology, and that both the US and its allies must adapt to this reality.

According to Kellogg, the core issue of Sunday’s drone attack wasn’t just the physical damage inflicted on Russian bombers like the Bear and Blackjack – NATO’s designations for the Tupolev Tu-95 and Tu-160, respectively – but the broader psychological effect.

“Anytime you attack the triad, it’s not just the delivery vehicles you’re targeting,” he said. “It’s the psychological impact you have.”

When asked whether the strikes were a huge embarrassment for Russia, Kellogg didn’t disagree, emphasizing instead that the attacks signaled Ukraine’s growing resolve and strategic reach.

“Ukraine is not lying down on this,” he said. “They’re saying, essentially, we can play this game too. And they can raise the risk to levels that are, basically to me – they’ve got to be unacceptable.”

The drone attacks, launched Sunday, targeted five airfields across Russia: Belaya, Dyagilevo, Olenya, Ivanovo, and others located in the Murmansk, Irkutsk, Ryazan, and Amur regions.

Ukrainian FPV drones were launched from trucks parked near the airbases, according to intelligence sources and regional officials, damaging dozens of strategic aircraft used in daily bombing raids on Ukrainian cities, including long-range Tu-95 and Tu-22M3 bombers, as well as an A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft.

Sources within the SBU told Kyiv Post that the operation had been in the works for more than 18 months and was personally overseen by President Volodymyr Zelensky and executed by SBU chief Lt. Gen. Vasyl Malyuk and his team.

The drones were covertly transported into Russia and hidden beneath wooden houses mounted on trucks. When the time came, the drones were remotely released to strike the bombers on the ground.