On 12 September, the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry (HUR) reported that its soldiers have successfully destroyed a Russian Su-30SM fighter jet over the Black Sea.
The operation, carried out by a special unit of the HUR, involved the use of a man-portable air-defense system (MANPADS) to shoot down the Russian combat aircraft. The fighter jet, which crashed into the sea, belonged to the 43rd Naval Aviation Regiment of the Russian Aerospace Forces, based at the Saky airfield in occupied Crimea.
HUR reports that Russian forces lost contact with their combat aircraft on 11 September around 5 a.m. Approximately three hours later, the Russians initiated a search and rescue operation, deploying an An-26 aircraft along with Mi-8 and Ka-27 helicopters.
According to HUR, by midday, the Russians reported to their command the discovery of a characteristic aviation fuel slick in the sea, approximately 70 kilometers northwest of Crimea’s Cape Tarkhankut. Shortly after, debris from the destroyed Su-30SM was spotted.
The Ukrainian Telegram channel Krymsky Veter had reported the incident a day earlier, on 11 September, saying that a Russian Su-30SM fighter jet had disappeared near Sevastopol during the night. According to their information, the jet, along with a Su-35, had been launching Kh-31P missiles at mainland Ukraine. The Su-30SM reportedly fired four out of six missiles before disappearing from radar.
Krymsky Veter added that the missing Su-30SM had two Russian pilots on board, both with the rank of captain: “pilot E.V. Stepanishin” and “navigator D.O. Fomin,” from the 43rd Aviation Regiment. According to Krymskyi Veter, the Ukrainians fired the MANPADS from a boat.
Subsequently, Russian Telegram channels, including Voenny Osvedomitel, confirmed the loss of the jet and its crew of two pilots.
According to the Ukrainian Army’s General Staff, Russia lost 369 combat airplanes during its ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine:
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