Ukrainian MiG-29 fighter jet destroyed in Russian missile attack: Video

Russia released footage on Thursday purporting to show the moment its forces destroyed a Ukrainian MiG-29 fighter jet after it hit an airfield with a ballistic missile.

In footage shown on X via @halsamorsan (formerly Twitter), the fighter jet and other military equipment and vehicles at the base in Dolgintsevo near Kryvyi Rih in southern Ukraine appeared to be destroyed. They were hit by an Iskandar ballistic missile, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Telegram.

“A MiG-29 fighter jet of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, as well as air-to-ground weapons and vehicles of the flight engineering service were destroyed,” the ministry said. It released aerial footage showing a target being hit from a distance, causing an explosion and a column of smoke into the air.

Newsweek could not independently verify Russia’s claim or information about when and where the footage was taken and has emailed the Ukrainian authorities asking for comment.

The Ukrainian Air Force had around 24 MiG-29 jets in operation at the end of last year, according to the UK-based think tank International Institute for Strategic Studies. Newsweek previously reported.

Both Russia and Ukraine have lost a significant number of aircraft during the war in Ukraine. Kyiv claimed to have shot down several Soviet-era Russian Su-25s last month. Ukraine has frequently attacked Russian air bases, claiming they are legitimate military targets in the war.

On Tuesday, the Russian Defense Ministry said it had destroyed several Ukrainian fighter jets at the Myrhorod air base, located in Ukraine’s Poltava region, southwest of the border regions of Sumy and Kharkiv.

Five of Ukraine’s operational Su-27 fighter jets were destroyed in the attack and two others that were under repair were damaged, the ministry said.

OSINT analysts gave more modest figures, saying two fighter jets were destroyed and four were damaged. Ukraine confirmed the attack without providing further details on the number of fighter jets destroyed.

“There was an attack. There are some losses, but not to the extent that the enemy claims,” ​​wrote Yuri Ignat, a former spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, on Facebook.

“The Air Force is doing everything it can to confront and mislead the enemy, including through dummies and other means,” Ignat added.

Dutch OSINT defense analysis website Oryx has visually confirmed that 107 Russian aircraft have been destroyed and 12 damaged since the start of the war in Ukraine.

Oryx has also visually confirmed that 90 Ukrainian aircraft have been destroyed, three damaged and one captured since the start of the war.

The Kiev military said in an update on Thursday that Moscow had lost 360 aircraft in the war so far. The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which publishes daily figures on Russia’s troop and equipment losses, added that Russia had lost a total of 547,470 soldiers.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in an update on Monday that its forces had so far destroyed 625 Ukrainian aircraft during the war.

Newsweek The figures could not be independently verified because neither Russia nor Ukraine discloses information on the number of casualties or equipment losses they suffered in the war.

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