Russia's 'Pearl Harbor' - 7 Hard Questions That Everyone Should Be Asking
By Michael Snyder/Economic Collapse Blog June 03, 2025
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In a world where deception is running rampant, it is so important to question the narratives that we are being fed. Ukraine's "Pearl Harbor" attack on Russia was extremely impressive, and it appears that quite a bit of damage was done.
But we are also extremely fortunate that this attack did not spark a nuclear war. If our nuclear bombers at Minot Air Force Base, Barksdale Air Force Base, and Whiteman Air Force Base were hit in a surprise attack, would we show similar restraint?
We are literally closer to nuclear war right now than we have ever been in all of human history, and those that are mindlessly celebrating Ukraine's recklessness don't seem to have any idea. Striking Russia's strategic nuclear assets is a really, really, really bad idea.
Now Vladimir Putin will feel compelled to respond very forcefully, and the Ukrainians are very much counting on that. The following are 7 hard questions that everyone should be asking about the "Pearl Harbor" attack on Russia...
#1 Does anyone actually believe that Ukraine was able to pull this off without any outside help?
It seems doubtful that the Ukrainians could have planned, organized and pulled off an operation of this magnitude without any western assistance.
Apparently the drones that were used in the attack were hidden inside the roofs of wooden sheds which were driven to their locations by truck drivers that had no idea what their trucks were carrying...
Ukraine was able to carry out its stunning "Operation Spider Web" attack on Russian air bases and nuclear fleet by hiding explosives-laden drones in wooden sheds, according to officials.
Kyiv's secret service (SBU) stashed the attack drones inside the roofs of the sheds, which were loaded onto trucks that were driven to the perimeter of the air bases, Ukrainian authorities revealed in a statement shared on social media.
The roof panels were then lifted off by a remotely activated device so the 117 drones used in the strikes could fly out and make their devastating attacks.
That is a brilliant plan.
Perhaps the Ukrainians came up with it themselves.
But how did they get the precise coordinates of the targets that they were going to hit?
And how were the drones guided to those precise coordinates?
We definitely need some answers, but I don't think we are going to get them.
#2 Other than the Ukrainians, who knew about this attack in advance?
The Ukrainians and the Trump administration are both telling us that President Trump did not know about this attack in advance...
Ukraine did not notify the Trump administration of the attack in advance, a Ukrainian official said. A U.S. official also told reporters the Trump administration was not made aware of the attack.
I do think that there is a very good chance that President Trump had no idea this attack was coming.
Of course even if he did know the attack was going to happen in advance, officials would still deny it in order to protect him.
For the moment, let's assume that Trump knew nothing.
Okay, but what about everyone else?
Are we supposed to believe that nobody else knew anything about a major operation that the Ukrainians had been working on for a year and a half?
Somebody knew something, and we need to know when they knew it.
#3 Why were Russian bombers just sitting out in the open?
Having extremely expensive bombers just sitting out in the open seems like a really foolish thing to do.
But the truth is that there is a very good reason why nuclear bombers are kept out in the open where everyone can see them...
For decades, treaties kept nukes in check, bombers had to be out in the open, silos sealed, so nobody could pull off a surprise strike.
It was the thin line stopping World War III.
Zelensky shattered it all in one move. He threw out the rules, erased decades of stability, and threw us straight back into Cold War chaos.
#4 How much damage was actually done?
The Ukrainians are claiming that more than 40 aircraft were hit during the attack and a total of approximately 7 billion dollars in damage was done...
Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) has officially confirmed it carried out a major drone strike against Russian military airfields, damaging or destroying what it claims is 34 percent of Russia's strategic cruise missile carriers, in a long-planned covert operation codenamed "Spiderweb."
The SBU said the strikes, which targeted airfields housing Russia's long-range bombers, resulted in an estimated $7 billion in damage - a figure that has not yet been independently verified.
"Seven billion US dollars. This is the estimated cost of the enemy's strategic aviation, which was hit today as a result of a special operation by the SBU - 'Spiderweb,'" the agency said in a statement released Sunday, June 1.
But other sources are claiming that the damage was far less extensive...
Judging by the images, four Tu-22M3 bombers and three Tu-95MS bombers were likely destroyed during the operation. In addition, one Tu-95MS was probably damaged.
What everyone can agree on is that Russian strategic nuclear bombers were hit, and this could have easily sparked a nuclear war.
#5 The Ukrainians know that Russia reserves the right to use nuclear weapons if their strategic nuclear assets are attacked. So why would Ukraine risk this?
As Scott Ritter has aptly pointed out, the Russians recently updated their nuclear doctrine to specifically address the kind of attack that just happened...
In 2024 Vladimir Putin ordered Russia's nuclear doctrine to be updated to consider the complicated geopolitical realities that had emerged from the ongoing Special Military Operation (SMO) in Ukraine, where the conflict had morphed into a proxy war between the collective west (NATO and the US) and Russia.
The new doctrine declared that nuclear weapons would be authorized for use in case of an "aggression against the Russian Federation and (or) its allies by any non-nuclear state with the participation or support of a nuclear state is considered as their joint attack."
Russia's nuclear arsenal would also come into play in the event of "actions by an adversary affecting elements of critically important state or military infrastructure of the Russian Federation, the disablement of which would disrupt response actions by nuclear forces."
Thankfully, the Russians showed restraint and did not use nukes.
But do we really want to bet the continued existence of our society on the ability of Vladimir Putin to show restraint every time the Ukrainians provoke him?
#6 How will the Russians respond?
Many in the Russian media are openly discussing the possibility of using nuclear weapons in response to this attack...
Russian papers and military bloggers are discussing the prospect of Russia using nuclear weapons to strike Ukraine after Kyiv launched brutal strikes on Vladimir Putin's airbases. The country is reeling after Ukrainian drones are reported to have destroyed more than £5 billion worth of strategic bombers in what some pro-Kremlin commentators have described as Russia's "Pearl Harbour".
Thankfully, Vladimir Putin isn't going to use nukes at this stage.
But everyone agrees that he will strike back really hard.
Will he use his new Oreshnik missiles against Ukraine?
Will Ukrainian cities be targeted?
Unfortunately, it probably won't be too long before we find out what Putin intends to do.
#7 Why would the Ukrainians conduct such an attack if they knew that the Russians would strike back really hard?
Many have pointed out that the "Pearl Harbor" attack came just prior to the peace talks in Istanbul.
If Ukraine really wanted to give those talks a chance to succeed, they wouldn't have launched such an attack right before they started.
But this attack wasn't really about the peace talks at all.
When the Ukrainians first started planning this operation, they had no idea that these peace talks would happen.
Ultimately, the primary goal of this operation was not to derail peace talks.
Rather, the primary goal of this operation was to provoke a Russian response that is so large that it will force NATO to join the war.
The Ukrainians understand that the only way that they can win this war is to get NATO involved.
That is why they invaded Kursk, that is why they tried to shoot down Putin's helicopter, and that is why they just attacked Russia's strategic nuclear bombers.
They need the Russians to do something so dramatic that it will finally drag NATO directly into the conflict.
Of course once we are directly at war with Russia, we will be just one step away from the unthinkable.
So I really hope that President Trump can see through the charade and understand what is really going on.
There is going to be so much pressure on him during the days ahead, and ultimately he will be the one that decides which way things go.
Originally published at The Economic Collapse Blog
