The Ukrainian military has reportedly struck a cutting-edge Russian SU-57 jet fighter within an airbase located in Russia. This is according to Kyiv’s GUR defence intelligence agency, who announced the strike on Sunday, and provided the proof via satellite imagery. The specifics of how and by which military unit of Ukraine the SU-57 was struck, however, were not detailed by the GUR in their Telegram post.
A Russian blogger, who is a known pro-war advocate and whose expertise lies in aviation and uses the alias Fighterbomber, has validated the Ukrainian agency’s report. He confirmed that the SU-57 jet was indeed demolished by a drone. GUR revealed that the plane was positioned at the Akhtubinsk airfield, a location 589km or 366 miles away from the frontline in Ukraine.
Comparing photographs from June 7th and 8th, the GUR illustrated that the SU-57 was intact at first but showed signs of an explosion, including craters and evidence of fire damage, on the following day. The conflict with Russia, which began in February 2022, has caused Ukraine, a country without access to a large missile arsenal like Russia, to concentrate on developing long-range drones to target locations deep within Russian territory.
Fighterbomber, in his post, revealed that the jet fighter had endured shrapnel damage and its capacity to be restore was under evaluation. If the plane is found to be irreparable, it would mark the first SU-57 to be taken down in battle. In the light of this incident, Alexander Kharchenko, a military correspondent for Russian state-owned agency RIA Novosti, issued a veiled statement decrying the lack of hangars for the safety of military planes.
The SU-57, often lauded as Russia’s answer to the US’s fifth-generation fighter aircraft, has already faced various impediments, including developmental delays and even a crash in 2019. According to the manufacturer, the production of the aircraft kicked off in earnest in 2022. These heavy-duty fighter jets are constructed to perform different functions on the battlefield. – Reuters