KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine said Sunday that its forces shot down a state-of-the-art Russian military plane that was stationed at an air base about 600 kilometers (370 miles) from the front line.
The strike is Western Allies in Kyiv The weapons were to be used in limited attacks inside Russia, but it was not immediately clear what had been struck at the airfield that reportedly housed the twin-engine planes. Su-57 The stealth fighter jet, hailed by Moscow as one of the most advanced fighter jets in the world, was likely the target of a drone attack, judging by its distance from Ukraine.
Kiev’s main military intelligence agency released satellite images showing the aftermath of the attack, which if confirmed would mark Ukraine’s first successful strike against an Su-57.
One photo shows black soot stains and small craters dotted on the concrete strip around the parked aircraft. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate said the attack took place on Saturday at the Akhtubinsk base in southern Russia, about 589 kilometers (360 miles) from the front line.
Ukrainian news agencies said the plane, capable of delivering stealth missiles from hundreds of kilometers (miles) away, was one of “countless numbers” of its kind in Moscow’s arsenal. Russian news agencies reported that the Moscow Air Force had acquired “more than 10” stealth missiles. Last year’s new Su-57, A total of 76 aircraft have been ordered for delivery through 2028.
Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Ilya Yevlash told Ukrainian media in April that Russia was trying to keep its Su-57 fighter jets at a “safe distance” from Ukrainian firepower.
The attack came after the United States and Germany recently authorized Ukraine to attack several targets inside Russian territory with long-range weapons they are supplying to Kiev, and Ukraine has already used U.S. weapons to attack inside Russia. Based on the newly approved guidelines President Joe Biden will authorize the limited use of American weapons for defensive purposes. KharkovThe second largest city in Ukraine.
But the runway’s distance from Ukraine, and private Russian comments, make it more likely that Ukrainian-made drones will be used. Since Moscow’s full-scale invasion more than two years ago, Kiev has ramped up domestic drone production and used that arsenal to strike deep into Russia. In January, a drone attack hit a gas terminal near St. Petersburg, more than 1,000 kilometers north of the border.
A popular pro-Kremlin Telegram channel, apparently run by a retired Russian military pilot, claimed that three Ukrainian drones struck the Akhtubinsk airfield on Saturday, damaging the jet with flying debris.
“Currently, efforts are underway to see if the aircraft can be repaired. If it cannot be repaired, it will be the first combat loss in the history of the Su-57,” the Fighter Bomber channel reported.
Alexander Kharchenko, a military correspondent for the Russian state news agency RIA, wrote in a Telegram post on Sunday that he blamed Russia for failing to build hangars to protect the aircraft, but the post stopped short of directly acknowledging the attack.
Russian so-called “military bloggers” such as Fighter Bomber are often seen as sources of information on military losses in the absence of official comment from the Kremlin. The Russian Defense Ministry and senior Russian defense officials had no comment on Sunday.
The ministry said on Saturday that its military had shot down three Ukrainian drones in Astrakhan Oblast, home to the Akhtubinsk airfield. Astrakhan Oblast Governor Igor Babushkin reported the same day that Ukraine had attempted to attack an unspecified facility in the oblast but claimed the attack had failed.
Russian Su-57s have largely disappeared from Ukrainian skies, instead being used to launch long-range missiles across the border. The UK Ministry of Defence said in an intelligence briefing last year that Russia was likely seeking to avoid the “reputational damage, dent in export prospects and exposure of sensitive technology” that would result from losing the planes over enemy territory.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces are continuing to launch drone attacks on Russia’s southern border, according to local Russian officials.
Three drones struck the Belgorod region late Saturday, damaging power lines and blowing out windows but causing no casualties, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said. The Russian Defense Ministry said five more drones and a Ukrainian-made missile were shot down in the region on Sunday.
A Ukrainian drone struck an munitions depot Sunday afternoon outside the town of Rakitnoye, about 35 kilometers (22 miles) from Ukraine, according to an update from Peperu (Ash), a channel run by a Belgorod journalist now based outside Russia. Footage circulating on social media shows thick smoke rising into the sky. In one video, a woman can be heard saying, “Are soldiers living there?”
Gladkov did not comment directly on the allegations but confirmed that the fire broke out in a “non-residential building” near Rakitnoye. He said no one was injured.
At least three civilians were killed and at least nine wounded in Russian artillery fire in Ukraine’s frontline areas on Saturday and overnight, local authorities reported.
Governor Oleh Shniekhbov said one man was killed and two women were wounded in the village of Khotimlya, east of Kharkiv. Shniekhbov said the shelling also damaged a local school, city hall building, shops and homes.
Heavy fighting continues in the area as Ukrainian forces try to repel Russian invaders after weeks of Moscow’s offensive spread unrest and forced civilians to flee Kharkiv, just 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the Russian border.
Russian New coordinated attacks The operations are focused in the Kharkiv region but appear to be testing Ukrainian defenses further south in Donetsk, as well as pushing into the Sumy and Chernihiv regions in the north.
According to Ukrainian and Western officials, the relaxation of Western arms restrictions would help Ukraine defend Kharkiv by targeting Russian capabilities across its borders. It is unclear how that would affect the course of the war. It turns out to be a crucial time.
The move drew a strong reaction from Moscow, which warned it could draw NATO into war with Russia, but President Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, described it as “common sense.”
“What was happening around Kharkiv was a Russian offensive, and they were moving directly from one side of the border to the other side of the border. It just didn’t make sense to us to not allow Ukrainian forces to fire across the border and attack the Russian guns and positions that were firing at them,” Sullivan said in an interview Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
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Kozlowska reported from London.
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