13 Jun SITREP: It appears that on June 1st, there was not one but two significant events…
By,
Octavio Perez, Senior Fellow | MSI2
Exploitation of open source news services, including Newsweek, Kyiv Independent, express.com (UK), and London Business News (UK), and a couple of well-known X bloggers, Igor Sushko and Anto Gerachenko, have commented on the event.
Ukrainian Southern Forces Command reported executing a second swarm of drones in occupied Zaporizhzhia. It is said that Ukrainian SBU operatives managed to add a grain carriage on the military train, which had concealed drones, causing substantial damage to equipment and goods.
Drones, similar to the ones on trucks, were driven to the five strategic bases inside Russia and used against the Strategic bombers. By doing so, the grain carriage was activated to the hatches, opened them, and a swarm of drones proceeded.
Proceeded to fly out, some destroying the locomotive first and then the tanks and armored vehicles. Infrared (thermal) videos of the event were taken by observation drones in the Zaporizhzhia region.
This was happening behind enemy lines, destroying a military resupply train. The correspondents, not the army, labeled the operation Spiderweb 2.0.
As the locomotive came to a halt, the drones went on and destroyed 13 tanks, seven artillery systems, and 103 armored vehicles. In addition, they set fire to other carriages containing 158,000 to 172,000 gallons of fuel.
This second Trojan Horse attack using hidden drones would also have made headlines, but it was brushed off because it looked more like a tactical operation, and the importance of destroying 40-plus strategic bombers took the spotlight.
Even more important than the actual loss of equipment and fuel, the Ukrainian Military Intelligence Bureau (HUR) stated: “… that the key logistical artery of the occupied territory of Zaporizhzhia Oblast and Crimea had been destroyed…”
Pro-Kremlin military bloggers angrily critiqued the idea of mixing a military equipment train with grain hoppers.
How the SBU planned and incorporated the planted hopper car (carriage) full of drones, and no one questioned it. Once again, the impact of obstructing and destroying military locomotives on key (MSR) main supply routes is a bigger issue than the assault, since it hampers their ability to reinforce their front lines quickly in the Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, and Crimean peninsula.
Kyiv got word of an ultimate plan from Russia to seize half of Ukraine by next year. So operations like this will impact future ops and likely have to reduce the scope of their objectives. On the geopolitical side this will also prove there is no interest in stopping the war and more decisive measures will have to be taken.
Keep in mind, there were also other train derailments on June 1st.
- A Russian military train carrying fuel & food was blown up near Melitopol
- Another train derailed in Bryansk Oblast, killing seven people and injuring 69
- A Ukrainian partisan group called Atesh sabotaged a railway in the occupied Donetsk Oblast
So, June 1st may have been bigger than expected, with a potential when confirmed 2nd Drone Swarm (Spiderweb 2.0) and other key logistical derailments that will impact future ops.
References
Daily Kos. (2025, June 8). Russian stuff blowing up: Ukraine does it again with a stunning drone attack on a Russian train. Retrieved from https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/6/8/2326557/-Russian-stuff-blowing-up-Ukraine-does-it-again-with-a-stunning-drone-attack-on-a-Russian-train
Express. (2025, June 9). Ukraine humiliates Putin again as covert drone operation destroys 100+ armored vehicles (J. Varga, Author). https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/2066127/ukraine-drones-attack-russian-military-train
Kyiv Independent. (2025). Russian military freight train blown up en route to Crimea, Ukraine’s HUR claims. Retrieved from https://kyivindependent.com/russian-freight-train-blown-up-on-its-way-to-crimea-claims-ukrainian-intelligence/
London Loves Business. (2025). Another Ukrainian covert drone attack ‘causes substantial damage’ on Russian supply train. Retrieved from https://londonlovesbusiness.com/another-ukrainian-covert-drone-attack-causes-substantial-damage-on-russian-supply-train/
Newsweek. (2025). Ukraine destroys 13 Russian tanks, 100 armored vehicles as locomotive hit. Retrieved from https://www.newsweek.com/russia-ukraine-military-war-2082437
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Miami Strategic Intelligence Institute (MSI²).