Ukraine said Sunday that its forces had hit a state-of-the-art Russian military plane parked at an air base nearly 600 kilometers (370 miles) from the front, after its Western allies allowed Kiev to use its weapons for limited attacks inside. From Russia.
kyiv’s main military intelligence service shared images it said showed the effects of the attack. If confirmed, it would be Ukraine’s first known successful attack on a Su-57 aircraft, a twin-engine stealth fighter considered Moscow’s most advanced military aircraft.
In the images, black soot marks and small craters are seen on a concrete runway around the parked plane. According to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, The operation occurred on Saturday at the Akhtubinsk base in southern Russia, about 589 km (366 mi) from the front.
It was initially unclear what weapons had been used, but the distance between the airfield and Ukraine suggested they were probably drones.
The United States and Germany recently authorized Ukraine to hit some targets on Russian territory with the long-range weapons they provide to kyiv. Ukraine has already used some American weapons to attack Russian territory according to new indications approved by the president of the United States, Joe Bidenwhich allow American weapons to be used for the limited purpose of defending Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city.
The Ukrainian agency said the plane, which can carry stealth missiles hundreds of kilometers (miles), was among the “few” of its type in Moscow’s arsenal. According to reports from Russian agencies, Moscow’s military obtained “more than 10” new Su-57s last year, and 76 are expected to have been built by 2028.
Moscow did not immediately comment on the reports. The Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday that its forces had shot down three Ukrainian drones in the Astrakhan region, where the Akhtubinsk airfield is located.
Since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion more than two years ago, kyiv has ramped up domestic drone production and used the aircraft to hit Russia’s interior, including a gas terminal near St. Petersburg, which is about 1,000 km away. (620 miles) north of the Ukrainian border.
Elsewhere, Ukrainian forces continued drone strikes on Russia’s southern border regions, according to Russian authorities.
Three drones struck Belgorod province on Saturday, damaging a power line and bursting windows, but leaving no victims, the governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said. The Russian Defense Ministry said another drone had been shot down over the nearby Bryansk region.
In other Ukrainian provinces on the front, Russian shells killed at least three civilians and wounded at least nine on Saturday and overnight, according to reports from regional authorities. One man was killed and two women were wounded in the town of Khotimla in the northeastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv, where shells damaged a local school, a local council building and a business, said Governor Oleh Syniehubov.
Intense battles continue in the area as Ukrainian troops try to repel invading Russian forces after a weeks-long offensive by Moscow that sparked fears for Kharkiv and a wave of civilian evacuations.
(With information from AP)
