Ukrainian forces have damaged an advanced Russian Su-57 jet hundreds of miles away from the front lines inside Moscow’s internationally recognized territory, Kyiv’s military spy agency said on Sunday, adding this is the “first such case in history.”
An Su-57 jet was struck on Saturday at the Akhtubinsk airfield, in the southern Russian republic of Astrakhan, Kyiv’s GUR military intelligence agency said in a statement. The site is around 365 miles from the current front lines in eastern Ukraine, according to the GUR.
Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.
One of Russia’s influential military bloggers—often considered sources for information on losses in lieu of official commentary from Moscow—said on Sunday that a Ukrainian drone had attacked the Akhtubinsk airfield on Saturday, and that the Su-57 was “damaged by shrapnel.”
“It is now being determined whether it can be restored or not,” the Fighterbomber Telegram channel added.
Moscow has been keen to keep its top-of-the-line, fifth-generation Su-57 stealth jets far away from Ukraine’s air defense systems. Unlike other jets widely used in Ukraine, such as Russia’s Su-35 aircraft, Su-57 fighters have not played a major role in the Kremlin’s air presence in Ukraine.
According to Ukraine, Russia has lost 357 aircraft since February 2022, none of which are Su-57 jets. Moscow has a handful of the aircraft in operation, with more than 70 scheduled for delivery to the country’s military in the next few years.
Russia has made some use of its Su-57 fleet, but is “attempting to keep it at a safe distance” from Ukraine, Kyiv air force spokesperson, Ilya Yevlash, said in remarks reported by domestic media in late April.
In early 2023, the British government said Russia had kept its Su-57 jets, also referred to by their NATO reporting name, Felon, to operating against Ukraine in Russian airspace, typically using long-range missiles.
Kyiv said the jets could attack Ukrainian territory using Kh-59 and Kh-69 missiles. The Ukrainian military has previously reported Russian use of these armaments against its territory.
In January last year, the U.K. Defense Ministry described the Akhtubinsk facility as the only known base for Russia’s Su-57 jets.
Ukraine’s GUR shared what it said was satellite imagery from Friday and Saturday, the first showing an “intact” Su-57, and fire damage around the aircraft the following day. Newsweek could not independently verify this imagery.
Russia is likely keen to avoid any “reputational damage” stemming from losing an Su-57 to Ukrainian attacks, the U.K. said back in January 2023.
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