A Sukhoi Su-57 jet fighter during the MAKS-2019 Moscow International Air Show near Zhukovsky, southeast of Moscow.
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Kyiv’s GUR defense intelligence agency said on Sunday that Ukrainian forces had for the first time hit a latest-generation Russian Sukhoi Su-57 fighter jet at an air base in Russia, showing a satellite image that it said confirmed the attack. attack.
In a Telegram post, GUR did not specify how the Su-57 was hit or which unit of the Ukrainian army was hit.
A popular Russian pro-war military blogger who calls himself a “fighter-bomber” and focuses on aviation says reports of an attack on the Su-57 are correct and that it was hit by a drone.
The GUR said the plane was parked at Akhtubinsk airport, 589 kilometers (366 miles) from the Ukrainian frontline between Ukrainian and Russian invading forces.
“Pictures show that on June 7, the Su-57 was intact, while on June 8, a crater caused by the explosion and characteristic fire spots caused by nearby fires appeared,” GUR said, accompanying the message.
Since February 2022, Ukraine has been fighting a full-scale Russian invasion.
Ukraine lacks the large number of missiles available to Moscow and has therefore focused on building long-range drones to strike targets within Russia.
Russian blog Fighterbomber said the jet fighter was hit by shrapnel and the damage was being assessed to see if the aircraft could be repaired.
He said if the aircraft was deemed beyond repair, it would be the first combat loss of a Su-57.
Alexander Khachenko, a military correspondent for Russia’s state-run news agency RIA Novosti, issued a cryptic message that did not directly acknowledge the attack but decried the lack of hangars to protect military aircraft.
Although the Su-57 has been touted as Russia’s fifth-generation fighter jet, rivaling its American counterpart, it has been plagued by development delays and a crash in 2019. .
It is a heavy fighter capable of fulfilling a variety of battlefield roles.
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