Ukraine for the first time destroys Russian fighter jet with drone from the sea

Ukraine for the first time destroys Russian fighter jet with drone from the sea

Ukraine claimed to have shot down a Russian SU-30 fighter jet in the Black Sea with a sea-supported drone-a worldwide novelty. "This is the first time that a fighter plane was destroyed by a marine drone," said Ukraine's defense secret service in a message on Saturday and added that the aircraft "opened in the air in the air and finally fell into the sea."

Details of the incident

The military secret services of Ukraine reported that one of their units on Friday destroyed the fighter jet with a Ukrainian Magura drone near the port of Novorosiysk, a strategically important port for Russia. Ukraine claims that the remains of the Russian Black Sea fleet can be found in this area.

An independent review of Ukraine’s claims by CNN was not possible. The Russian Minister of Defense has not yet commented on the incident, but the claim has been underpinned by a Russian military blogger. "The Ukrainians brought more than three dozen lake ... to the Novorossiysk region ... after our jet was hit, the crew landed in the water, surrounded by enemy sea people," reported the blogger Fighterbomber on Saturday on Telegram.

earlier successes of Ukraine

In December last year, the Ukraine military intelligence agency stated that he successfully destroyed two Russian helicopters with the sea-supported Magura V5 mission drone, which was developed by Ukrainian military and engineers. In recent years, Kiev has increasingly relied on drones to compensate for Russia's military superiority, which has superior manpower and resources.

Since the illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014 and the subsequent losses after the invasion of Russia in 2022, Ukraine has no functional marine in the Black Sea.

The effectiveness of drones

drones have proven to be extremely effective against some of the strongest ships in the Moscow Black Sea fleet. They are controlled from afar via a Starlink connection and can be programmed for long crossings over the Black Sea. Last February the Ukraine, the Russian steering frenzy destroyer Ivanovets in the Black Sea. The most remarkable blow in April 2022 was the destruction of the Moskva , which was an enormous moral buoyancy during the early war weeks.

interviews and tactics

After the attack on the Ivanovets, CNN conducted an interview with the secret seedorfen unit of Ukraine, which was responsible for the attack, at a location near the Ukrainian coastal town of Odessa. One of the drone pilots involved in the attack explained that ten Magura drones were used, six of which met the Russian warship and ultimately sank. A drone pilot revealed CNN that the drones in the open sea are quite difficult to see, which makes it difficult for the Russians to target them.

This report was supported by Fred Pleitgen, Joseph Ataman, Daria Tarasova-Markina, Victoria Butenko, Christian Edwards and Alex Stambaugh from CNN.