Ukraine reveals 'world first' after downing £38m Putin Su-30 warplanes
Ukraine has revealed how it downed two £38 million Putin Su-30 multi-role fighters in the Black Sea - using missiles launched from high-speed unmanned boats in Russian waters.
The strikes from marine drones are a world first, and a major humiliation for the Russian dictator with Lt-Gen Kyrylo Budanov saying: 'It's a historical moment.' A video shows the first strike on the Su-30 - known as Flanker - from a Magura-7 drone which struck near key Russian naval port Novorossiysk.
It was hit with an AIM-9 Sidewinder infrared-guided air-to-air missile fired from the unmanned boat by a remote controller. The two pilots ejected and were rescued by a civilian ship, according to reports.
There is no visual evidence of the second strike, by the same missile type but in a separate strike. Lt-Gen Budanov said the Russian crew were believed to have been killed. Earlier reports from Ukraine suggested the first plane was downed by an adapted infrared-guided R-73 short-range air-to-air missile.
The AIM-9 Sidewinder was supplied to Ukraine by the US. Ukraine has repeatedly used maritime drones to inflict heavy losses on Russian naval power in the Black Sea.
Earlier the Ukrainian GUR military intelligence directorate said: 'This is the first destruction of a combat aircraft by a sea drone in the world,' said the GUR. The historic strike was carried out by soldiers of the GUR special unit of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine Group 13 with a missile from an unmanned sea platform Magura.
'The multi-purpose fighter of the aggressor state Russia, whose estimated cost is about $50 million [USD], burst into flames in the air and eventually fell into the sea….
'The successful strike on the enemy combat aircraft took place in the water area near the port in the city of Novorossiysk, where Muscovites hid the remains of their Black Sea Fleet.'
On December 31 last year a Magura V5 missile sea drone downed two Russian Mi-8 helicopters, another world first. Lt-Gen Budanov told War Zone media: 'We use a couple of models [of missiles] on our Magura-7, but the best results [come from] the AIM-9.'
Meanwhile, a Russian drone attack overnight on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, wounded 11 people, Ukraine's State Emergency Service said Sunday. Two children were among the wounded. The attack woke up Valentyna Fesiuk, an 83-year-old resident of Kyiv's Obolon district.
'I was just sleeping when the house shook. It was at 12:30. An apartment on the 12th floor caught fire,' she said. The car of another resident, Viacheslav Khotab, caught fire. 'I saw my car burning. I was covered with broken glass,' he said. 'I couldn't do anything.'
The 54-year-old was frustrated with stalled peace negotiations: 'They can't agree on anything, and we are the ones who suffer the consequences.'
Daryna Kravchuk, an 18-year-old student in the district, described how 'five to six minutes after the air raid was activated, we heard a strong impact, everything started shaking. ... There were three strikes almost in a row after the air raid was activated. It's very scary to witness, we have been suffering from this for so long. People are just suffering all the time. ... It's still very hard to see our country constantly being destroyed."
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