Putin promised to make Ukraine pay for its airbase attacks. What does he have left?

CNN —

For more than three years, Russia has used its fleet of bombers to rain hellfire on Ukraine. On June 1, Kyiv responded by going after those bombers.

The operation , codenamed “Spiderweb,” was 18 months in the making. Dozens of hidden drones emerged from trucks parked in Russia, racing to airfields thousands of miles from Ukraine and destroying at least 12 bombers.

Although the operation was a huge boost for Ukrainian morale, many in the country braced for Moscow’s retaliation. Their fears sharpened when Russian President Vladimir Putin told his US counterpart Donald Trump on Wednesday that the Kremlin would “have to respond” to the attack.

Russia’s initial retaliation began Thursday night, in the form of a massive drone and missile strike on Kyiv and across the country. R