Evening Edition: Ukraine's Drone Attack A Serious Blow To Russia's Arsenal
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I'm Jimmy Fallon. I'm Rachel Campos Duffy. I'm Will Kane. And this is the Fox News Rundown. Tuesday, June 3rd, 2025. I'm John Saucier. A stunning attack which may change the way modern wars are fought has played out in Russia. Ukraine able to sneak drones deep into Russian territory and take out some key military assets. This took over a year of planning.

And no doubt has Russia and other world powers thinking deeply about their own vulnerabilities. It's just a reminder that the technology of drone warfare is here. Ukraine has shown it can be used in a strategic attack. We have to make sure that doesn't happen to us here in the U.S. This is the Fox News Rundown, evening edition.

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Unsuspecting truck drivers hired for what they thought were routine shipments wound up carrying containers full of weaponized Ukrainian drones to sites near Russian military bases. When the trucks pulled over, the drones flew out and took out 41 Russian aircraft to bases around the country. This was a huge moment for the Ukrainian military, which has been struggling to defend itself in now what's been an over three-year-long Russian invasion.

Beyond question, this coordinated drone strike by Ukraine has completely opened a new chapter in drone warfare. We're speaking today with Dr. Rebecca Grant, vice president of the Lexington Institute and national security analyst. They've taken out part of a nuclear capable bomber force. Drones have never done that before. And two things.

really impressed me about this attack. And first was the simultaneous execution. So we're looking at drones hitting multiple Russian bases all at the same time. Quite impressive. Then the reach and the range of this attack. So while short-range, close-in drones were used coming off those trucks,

But the bases attacked were very, very spread out. There was a base attacked up in Murmansk that's in the Arctic Circle. Another base was 3,000 miles from Kyiv all the way out in Siberia, you know, near Lake Baikal and two other bases as well. That's an

any estimation a major strategic campaign and a major strategic blow by Ukraine against Russia. The Ukrainian intelligence service says 41 Russian aircraft were hit at those four bases. How significant is the idea that 41 Russian aircraft are now out? I mean, can Russia survive that or is this really going to hamper their warfighting efforts?

They targeted 41 aircraft. This is very significant because the bombers, the Tu-95 Bear bomber, the Backfire bomber, these are not in production. These are older planes that are modified and upgraded, and they're very ugly.

but they are not in production. Putin cannot replace them. This is not like taking some tanks out of storage and upgrading them and sending them to Ukraine. So he has lost a significant amount of his strategic bomber force. We're starting to get some satellite photos in. It looks like the final tally is going to be at least nine bear bombers destroyed and some of the Tu-22s as well.

Now, remember, all of those bombers have been used to launch cruise missiles and drones from Russian airspace into Ukraine. So that's why Ukraine did it. What does this do to Russia as far as, you know, mentally? Because, I mean, if you're able to get a truck that close in from thousands of miles away, it makes you now wonder, do we have to inspect every truck that's coming into Russia or driving around Russia and everything?

What do you think that is going to affect how Russia fights this war? Oh, incredible psychological damage. But here's the thing. Putin is going to pretend that he's not bothered by this attack. He can't admit to the Russian people that Russia's vulnerable.

It goes against all his war mythology. So he's simply saying, well, there was a terrorist attack at some bases and it was repelled. That's going to constrain his retaliation options, too. But you can bet if you're part of the Russian air defenders these days, you have got to be very nervous. I'm reminded of the little Cessna that landed in Red Square back, I think, in the 1980s.

The Russians have never been that careful about air defense, but Putin should have seen this coming. Ukraine had actually attacked two of these bases previously back in 2023 on a much smaller scale. The United States has been trying to get Russia and Ukraine to come to the negotiating table and work out a ceasefire that may ultimately lead to a peace plan. So far, it's been tough getting Putin to the table. The Russians have been reluctant. He really was kind of

positioning himself like he still was in a strong place and still winning this war. Does this attack make Putin more likely to come to the table to talk peace? Oh, I hope so. And, you know, it's got to look bad to his Chinese backers as well. This was such a crafty attack and so well planned with a lot of command and control and coordination by Ukraine. I think

in a way it does put pressure on Russia. Now, you wouldn't know it from the documents they brought to the negotiations in Istanbul where they basically demanded that Ukraine withdraw from everything and fold up their army and go home. So that's not going to happen. But I think that for Putin,

to see that he has lost something of great strategic significance. He cannot get these bear bombers back. He likes to use these bear bombers particularly to fly harassment missions against U.S. airspace and around the world and up in Alaska. So for the first time recently, Putin has said, wow, I just lost something really important to me, a chunk of

of my nuclear deterrent force. That has got to make him think twice because really, there's no reason Ukraine couldn't do it a second time. Weaponized drones have rapidly developed during this Russian invasion of Ukraine. And with the Ukrainians able to sneak those drones undetected deep into Russian territory, the world needs to take a good hard look at defending itself against this kind of attack.

We're on today with a weapons expert. She's Dr. Rebecca Grant, vice president of the Lexington Institute and national security analyst. And we'll ask her just how vulnerable the United States might be against something like this. We'll have much more with Dr. Grant coming your way next.

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Drones are suddenly a weapon, Dr. Grant. And, you know, we've seen this especially so in this war between Russia and Ukraine. Drones have played a major part of it. And not just the big, fancy military drones. I mean, some of these are very simple drones that anyone could get at their local store and then outfitted with weaponry there. And they're very tough to track, obviously, for Russia, who couldn't track these ones as they were secretly shipped into the country. But my question is...

How susceptible might the United States be to something like this? I mean, we also have vast...

areas of land. We've got obviously a big military, but it feels like drones are something that might be able to slip under the radar. How do you feel about drone defenses in the United States, and are we vulnerable? This Ukraine attack should make, it should send a chill down the spine of every U.S. base commander, because right now the U.S. military needs to be asking, what if a Russian or Chinese, you know, so-called fishing boat pulls up off the coast of Guam?

or off the coast of Virginia Beach and pops open a container and attacks U.S. bombers or fighters at an air base. You know, we keep our strategic bombers mainly in the heartland, in the Dakotas, Missouri, Louisiana. But our bombers fly around the world to do bomber task force missions, and they sit out in the open on host nation runways.

So I think that every part of the military is looking at this. And in fact, the Army Chief of Staff said yesterday that this really shows how quickly technology could change. And we do have great counter drone defenses. But we need to be sure that, first of all, our military bases are really buttoned up against the counter drone threat. Yeah, absolutely. Drones have had me worried for a long time. And around here, I am in New York City. We had

A story that was playing out earlier this year of mysterious drones flying over New Jersey. There were more and more sightings. Nobody could explain what they were. Nobody knew how to stop them. The White House at the time and the U.S. military were saying, oh, you know, these are just people who are flying these drones. Nothing we can really do about it. And I guess that makes me worried. What about drones against civilian targets as well? I mean, especially a congested city, you would think would be more of a target there. Do we have any sort of defense against something like that?

Well, our defense is focused mainly on our military bases, obviously, also because, you know, when you start shooting at drones, stuff goes in a lot of different directions. But our defenses have focused on military bases, but on other critical infrastructure. And that's a list the government is not going to give out.

But we do have the ability to track with radar and other sensors, and we do have a number of counter drone systems that are in place. But by no means is the U.S. completely defended against drone attacks. Probably 1,000 drones a month come across the southern border carrying drugs.

So we're going to have to ask ourselves going forward just what do we want to defend against? You know, China has an unmanned plane that carries 100 smaller drones. Now, any U.S. fighter pilot can spot that and shoot it down. But it's just a reminder that the technology of drone warfare is here. Ukraine has shown it can be used in a strategic attack. We have to make sure that doesn't happen to us here in the U.S.

Do you see Ukraine doing this again? I mean, this obviously was very successful and has really changed the way they are fighting the war. Why wouldn't they keep up with this strategy? Right. They have started from smaller attacks on fighter airfields in Crimea. They took out the admiral commanding the Black Sea Fleet. They hit the Kremlin. Those were small attacks. Now they've escalated up a

got to tell you what's to say there aren't more trucks carrying Ukrainian drones already inside Russia. I wouldn't be surprised to see a second attack. And there's a lot in Russia that's vulnerable. How about those energy pipelines carrying gas and oil out to the Chinese who are keeping Russia in the fight? So I think we may see additional attacks. And I'm sure that the Russian military is asking themselves what the heck just happened.

This war has taken so many twists and turns and different chapters of it. I think that this is another one and possibly maybe even a very important one, hopefully, which will lead to the end of it. But until then, the fighting does continue. And our analysis continues with Dr. Rebecca Grant, the vice president of the Lexington Institute. Dr. Grant, always appreciate your insight. And thanks for taking the time to join us on the Fox News Rundown Evening Edition podcast. Thank you. ♪

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