Watch: Ukraine's daring drone attack on Russia that's got the world talking

The Russian Defence Ministry said on Sunday that five of its air bases were hit by Ukrainian drone attacks, damaging an unknown number of aircraft.

Ukraine said that its drones destroyed Russian bombers worth billions of dollars as far away as Siberia in its longest-range assault of the war, as it geared up for talks on prospects for a ceasefire.

In a spectacular claim, Ukraine said it damaged $7 billion worth of Russian aircraft parked at four airbases thousands of kilometres across the border, with unverified video footage showing aircraft engulfed in flames and black smoke.

A source in the Ukrainian security services (SBU) said the strikes hit 41 planes that were used to “bomb Ukrainian villages”.

The drones were concealed in the ceilings of transportation containers that were opened remotely for the assault, the source added.

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President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed the strikes as a “brilliant operation” that took over a year and a half to plan, saying 117 drones were used.

For the first time, Ukraine has hit deep Russian air bases—Olenegorsk in the Murmansk region and Sredny in Siberia’s Irkutsk region—using drones launched from nearby areas, according to reports.