Ukraine’s military intelligence agency claimed to have destroyed a Russian Su-30 fighter jet using a missile fired from a sea-based unmanned surface vessel, media reports said.
Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence (GUR) announced the incident on Saturday, which is being described by Kyiv as the world’s first recorded instance of a manned combat aircraft being shot down by a maritime drone.
A special GUR unit known as Group 13 carried out the operation on Friday in the Black Sea, approximately 50 kilometres west of the Russian port city of Novorossiysk, the Ukrainian government said.
Ukrainian authorities released a video to accompany the announcement to back their claim.
In its statement, the GUR claimed that the operation was conducted in coordination with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and other units of the Ukrainian armed forces.
As per the agency, the missile was launched from a Magura V5 maritime drone platform, a type of sea drone Ukraine has deployed increasingly in recent months.
The destroyed aircraft was identified as a Russian Su-30, a twin-engine fighter jet with an estimated market value of $50 million.
Ukraine claimed that the aircraft was “engulfed in flames mid-air before crashing into the sea.”
The Russian Defence Ministry has not issued a formal response.
(With inputs from IBNS)
