Ukraine says it struck one of Russia’s most advanced warplanes

Kyiv, Ukraine. Ukraine said Sunday that its forces attacked an ultra-modern Russian fighter jet parked at an air base nearly 600 kilometers (370 miles) from the front lines.

The strike occurred shortly after his Western allies allowed Kyiv use their weapons for limited attacks inside Russia. But it was not immediately clear what hit the airfield supposedly housing the twin-engine aircraft. Su-57 Stealth aircraft, praised as Moscow’s most advanced fighter jet. Its distance from Ukraine suggests it was most likely hit by drones.

kyiv’s main military intelligence service shared satellite photos that it said showed the aftermath of the attack. If confirmed, it would mark Ukraine’s first known successful attack on a Su-57.

In one photo, black soot marks and small craters can be seen dotting a strip of concrete around the parked plane. According to the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, the attack took place on Saturday at the Akhtubinsk base in southern Russia, about 589 kilometers (366 miles) from the front line.

The Ukrainian agency said the plane, which is capable of carrying stealth missiles over hundreds of kilometers (miles), was among “a few” of its type in Moscow’s arsenal. According to reports from Russian agencies, Moscow’s air force obtained “more than 10” new Su-57s last year, and has placed an order for a total of 76 that will be delivered in 2028.

Ilya Yevlash, a spokesman for Ukraine’s air force, told Ukrainian media in April that Moscow was trying to keep its Su-57 fleet “at a safe distance” from Ukrainian firepower.

The attack comes after the United States and Germany recently authorized Ukraine to attack some targets on Russian soil with the long-range weapons they are supplying Kiev. Ukraine has already used American weapons to attack inside Russia under recently approved guidance of President Joe Biden allowing American weapons to be used for the limited purpose of defense Kharkivthe second largest city in Ukraine.

But the distance of the landing strip from Ukraine, as well as unofficial comments from Russia, point to the likely use of Ukrainian-made drones. Since the full-scale invasion of Moscow more than two years ago, kyiv has increased domestic production of drones and used the munitions to strike deep inside Russia. In January, drones attacked a gas terminal near St. Petersburg, more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) north of the border.

A popular pro-Kremlin Telegram channel, believed to be run by a retired Russian military pilot, claimed that three Ukrainian drones attacked the Akhtubinsk airstrip on Saturday and that flying shrapnel damaged the plane.

“Now it is being determined whether it can be restored or not. Otherwise, it would be the first combat loss of a Su-57 in history,” the Fighterbomber channel reported.

A military correspondent for the Russian state news agency RIA, Aleksandr Kharchenko, denounced Moscow’s failure to build hangars to protect its planes in a post on Telegram on Sunday. But the publication stopped short of directly acknowledging the strike.

Russia’s so-called “military bloggers,” such as Fighterbomber, are often seen as sources of information about military losses in the absence of official comment from the Kremlin. Russia’s Defense Ministry and senior political figures had no comment on Sunday.

On Saturday, the ministry said its forces shot down three Ukrainian drones in the Astrakhan region, where the Akhtubinsk airstrip is located. Igor Babushkin, governor of Astrakhan, reported that same day that Ukraine attempted to attack an unspecified facility there, but stated that the attack was unsuccessful.

Russia’s Su-57 fleet has been largely absent from Ukraine’s skies and has instead been used to fire long-range missiles across the border. The UK Ministry of Defense said in an intelligence briefing last year that Russia is likely trying to avoid “reputational damage, reduced export prospects and the compromise of sensitive technology” that would result from the loss of any Su aircraft. -57 in enemy territory.

Elsewhere, Ukrainian forces maintained drone strikes in Russia’s southern border regions, according to local Russian officials.

Three drones attacked Belgorod province on Saturday night, damaging a power line and breaking windows, but causing no casualties, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said. Five more drones and a Ukrainian-made missile were shot down over the region on Sunday, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

According to an update from Pepel (Ashes), a channel run by Belgorod journalists now residing outside Russia, Ukrainian drones attacked an ammunition depot on the outskirts of the town of Rakitnoye on Sunday afternoon, about 35 kilometers (22 miles) from Ukraine. Images circulating on social media showed thick plumes of smoke rising into the sky. In one video, a woman’s voice is heard saying: “I wonder if soldiers lived there.”

Gladkov, the governor, did not comment directly on those claims, but confirmed that a fire had broken out in a “non-residential building” near Rakitnoye. He said no one was hurt.

In Ukraine’s frontline provinces, Russian shelling killed at least three civilians and wounded at least nine others on Saturday and overnight, according to reports from regional officials.

One man was killed and two women were injured in the village of Khotimlya, east of Kharkiv, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said. The shelling also damaged the local school, a municipal building, a store and private homes, Syniehubov said.

Heavy fighting continued in the area as Ukrainian troops attempted to push back invading Russian forces after a week-long offensive by Moscow that raised fears for Kharkiv, located just 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the Russian border. and a wave of civilian evacuations.

Russia new coordinated offensive has focused on the Kharkiv region, but appears to include testing Ukrainian defenses in Donetsk, further south, and also launching raids on the northern regions of Sumy and Chernihiv.

Easing restrictions on the use of Western weapons will help Ukraine protect Kharkiv by attacking Russian capabilities across the border, according to Ukrainian and Western officials. It is unclear what other impact it might have on the conduct of the war, as far as proving to be a critical period.

The move sparked a furious response from Moscow and warnings that it could involve NATO in a war with Russia. But Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, described it as “common sense.”

“What was happening around Kharkiv… was a Russian offensive where they were moving from one side of the border directly to the other side of the border, and it just didn’t make sense not to allow the Ukrainians to fire across on that side. border, to attack Russian weapons and sites that were shooting at them,” Sullivan said Sunday in an interview with CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

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Kozlowska reported from London.

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