Russia Lost More Than Half of Su-30SMs in the 43rd Air Regiment of the Black Sea Fleet Since 2022

Along with the Su-30SM multi-role fighter that fell down today, Russia has lost more than half of the Su-30SMs that were part of the 43rd Separate Naval Assault Air Regiment as of 2022.

The invaders deployed this aviation unit, number 59882, to Crimea at the seized Saki airfield in Novofedorivka after 2014.

In addition to Su-30s, it is equipped with up to a squadron of Su-24s.

In a commentary to Militarnyi, Military Aviation editor-in-chief Denys Tomenchuk said that at the beginning of the large-scale aggression, the 43rd Separate Naval Assault Aviation Regiment had 12 Su-30SM multi-role fighters. That is, a full squadron.

The very first loss of this type of aircraft occurred on March 5, 2022, in the Mykolaiv region. Both pilots ejected and were captured.

One of them was Major Oleksiy Golovensky, the commander of the aviation squadron at the time. The other was Captain Aleksey Kozlov, a navigator.

The unit suffered its next losses on August 9, 2022, when the Security and Defense Forces struck at the regiment’s base.

In order not to dwell on it in detail, we would like to draw your attention to the article “The destruction of the Saki airfield: chronology and losses”. At that time, the Russians irretrievably lost three Su-30SMs and had one damaged as a result of the strike. In addition, 5 Su-24s were destroyed and 3 were damaged.

On September 11, 2024, at about 5 am, the invaders lost contact with one Su-30SM. Later, it became known that the Russian multi-purpose fighter jet with man-portable air defense systems was shot down by soldiers of a special unit of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine.

On May 2, 2025, a special unit of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, in cooperation with the SSU and the Ukrainian Defense Forces, shot down a Russian Su-30SM multirole fighter in the Black Sea for the first time in history with an AIM-9 missile launched from a maritime drone.

Thus, the Su-30SM from the 43rd Air Regiment of the Black Sea Fleet that went down today became the seventh aircraft of this type lost in the unit.

Along with the strike on August 9, 2022, and the UJ-26 Bober long-range drone that struck on July 1, 2025, two more were damaged at the Saki airfield in addition to the seven irretrievably lost ones.