The Ukrainian military said it destroyed a Russian Su-30 fighter jet using a missile fired from a seaborne drone.
Announcing this on Saturday, Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said it was the world’s first downing of a combat plane by a maritime drone.
In a statement posted on social media, it said the fighter jet was shot down by a military intelligence unit called Group 13 on Friday over waters near Novorossiisk, a major Russian port city on the Black Sea.
Outmanned and outgunned by its larger, wealthier Russian adversary, Ukraine has turned to drone warfare in the air and at sea as a way to fight back throughout more than three years of full-scale war.
It will be recalled that Ukraine’s seaborne drones, which are much cheaper and smaller than conventional ships, have wrought havoc on Russia’s Black Sea fleet.
The war-torn country has previously said it shot down a Russian military helicopter in December 2024 using a missile fired from the same type of seaborne drone.
Although the Russian Defence Ministry did not comment on the Ukrainian claim, but an authoritative Russian blogger believed to be close to the ministry said the jet had been shot down.
“Yesterday towards evening, an Su-30 naval aviation fighter jet was shot down by the Ukrainian side 50 kilometres west of Novorossiisk. This was done from an uncrewed boat with an R-73 SAM (surface-to-air missile),” the blogger, who goes by the name Rybar, wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
Meanwhile, the mayor of Novorossiisk had declared a state of emergency on Saturday after local authorities said a Ukrainian drone attack had damaged a grain terminal and several residential buildings, injuring five people.
