A bulldog' The security service chief behind the success of Ukraine's Operation Spiderweb

It was unsurprising to those who know Vasyl Malyuk, the head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), that his statement on the success of Operation Spiderweb had a certain physicality to it.

- Daniel Boffey

The audacious drone attacks on distant bases hosting Russia's strategic bombers was "a serious slap in the face to Russia's power", said Malyuk, 42, a sometime boxer and weightlifter. "Our strikes will continue as long as Russia terrorises Ukrainians with missiles and Shahed drones."

Shaven-headed and with the physique and bearing of a stereotypical nightclub bouncer, Malyuk has led the SBU since the former head Ivan Bakanov was fired in 2022 for incompetence. Malyuk had been his deputy.

There have been high-profile successes over the last three years. One stunt - a photograph of Malyuk holding a bruised Dmitry Kozyura, the head of the SBU's counter intelligence department, by the scruff of the neck at the time of his arrest on suspicion of being a Russian double agent - attracted the coverage for which it was designed.

When Zakhar Prilepin, a Russian paramilitary leader, survived a suspected SBU-sponsored assassination attempt, Malyuk made headlines by commenting that Prilepin's "pelvis and legs were severely injured, and, sorry, he lost his genitals". "Therefore, it is God's will that he continue to live and enjoy life," he added drily.

Meanwhile, the SBU's own Sea Baby marine drones are credited with striking 11 Russian military ships and pushing the Black Sea fleet "all the way to Novorossiysk".

Though none of this compares to the global attention drawn by the attacks of this first week in June.

"I am confident that the SBU operations led by Vasyl Malyuk will be the subject of books and films," said one SBU officer on condition of anonymity. "Because compared to what the security service is doing now, Hollywood is nervously smoking on the sidelines."

The number of Russian aircraft put out of action by the attack on four bases on Monday is disputed; the Ukrainians claim that figure to be 41, but US intelligence officials suggest 10 combat aircraft were destroyed and up to 20 damaged.