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The Ukrainian Air Force (UAF) acknowledged that one of its MiG-29 fighter jets crashed in the Odessa region while on a combat mission to destroy enemy aerial targets.
“During the launch of an aviation missile, an abnormal situation occurred, as a result of which the aircraft caught fire and the pilot lost control, although he tried to save the machine,” the air force said in a statement.
The pilot successfully ejected and was evacuated to a medical facility, according to the statement, which noted that an official investigation is underway to establish the exact cause of the crash.
Videos posted online showed the fighter jet falling from the sky in a fireball, leaving a trail of white smoke. Behind it, another trail of smoke can be seen.
While the UAF alleged that a faulty missile launch caused the crash, the footage suggests that the MiG-29 may actually have been hit. The case mimics previous shootdowns with Russian R-37M long-range air-to-air missiles, typically launched from Su-35S fighter jets. The radar-homing missile has a range of up to 400 kilometers.
Before the start of the Russian special military operation, some 40 MiG-29A, MiG-29S, MiG-29MU1 and MiG-29MU2 were in service with the UAF. A year into the operation, Ukraine received more than two dozen MiG-29G and MiG-29AS from Poland and Slovakia. It also took over a few Azerbaijani MiG-29A 9.13s, which were sent for maintenance prior to the start of the operation.
The UAF has lost at least 54 MiG-29s — including four described as “damaged” — since the start of the Russian special military operation, according to Wikipedia’s list of aviation shootdowns and accidents, which is based on visual evidence or official confirmations only. This toll does not include the latest loss, but it still indicates that the country has lost nearly all of its MiG-29s.
The UAF rarely admits that its fighter jets were shot down by Russia. It only reports on losses which have already become publicly known after footage was posted to social networks, and even then, it always attributes these losses to technical failures.
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samé dobré správy. o jeden mig 29 menej. rusko pokračuje v demilitarizácii ukrajiny a spolu s ňou aj prehnitého liberálno-fašistického západu. svetu mier a mysleniu zdar.