Truck driver arrested in central Russia over drones launched from his vehicle in Ukraine’s Operation Spiderweb

A court in the city of Ivanovo, 160 miles northeast of Moscow, has arrested Mikhail Ryumin. The 55-year-old from Chelyabinsk is one of several Russian truck drivers whose vehicle was used to launch drones targeting Russian military airfields during Ukraine’s Operation Spiderweb. Ryumin was detained on June 2 and later formally charged with participating in a terrorist act, according to a report by the independent outlet Mediazona.

Ryumin’s colleague confirmed he had been driving the truck from which some of the drones used in the attack were launched. The driver had recently taken a job transporting modular buildings from Chelyabinsk to the Ivanovo Region, a journey of close to 1,000 miles. The colleague insisted Ryumin was unaware that drones were hidden beneath the roofs of the buildings:

“He got caught up in this by accident. I’ve hauled similar units — modular homes, we call them — for years across the country. If I had been given one of those, I would’ve loaded it and hauled it too. You can’t even see inside, ours were all sealed up. You’re not going to rip open the walls.”

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) carried out Operation Spiderweb on June 1, targeting Russian air bases in Belaya (Irkutsk Region), Olenya (Murmansk Region), Dyagilevo (Ryazan Region), and Ivanovo-Severny (Ivanovo Region). At pre-arranged times, trucks carrying modular buildings stopped near the airfields. The buildings’ roofs, which were equipped with remote-controlled sliding mechanisms — opened to release drones that launched attacks on aircraft stationed at the bases. A truck bound for the Ukrainka base in the Amur Region in Russia’s Far East reportedly exploded en route.

More than two dozen strategic long-range bombers were estimated to have been destroyed or critically damaged as part of Operation Spiderweb.

The day after the operation, pro-Kremlin Telegram channel Shot reported that four truck drivers, all from the Chelyabinsk Region, had been detained. Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed the arrests of “a number of individuals involved in the attacks,” but gave no names or figures. Their identities and fates remained unknown until Ryumin’s case came to light.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later said the drivers involved were unaware of the drones hidden in their cargo.

The trucks were reportedly owned by Artyom Timofeyev, a native of Donetsk. Russian authorities have issued arrest warrants for Timofeyev and his wife, Marina Timofeyeva, who is originally from Kyiv.