Ukrainian Navy Spokesperson: Russian Air Defense Shoots Down Its Own Su-30SM Over Crimea

On the night of October 17th, Russian air defense destroyed its own Su-30SM fighter jet.

Ukrainian Navy spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk reported on this during a broadcast on Apostrophe TV. According to him, the aircraft was carrying out a mission to intercept Ukrainian drones.

The crew managed to eject. The Su-30SM fighter jet has a two-person crew.

“All information about the crash is currently being collected,” the Ukrainian Navy representative said.

The fact of the shoot-down is also confirmed by Russian military bloggers connected to aviation topics.

According to their reports, the incident occurred after a missile was launched at one of the drones. A fire broke out on board the aircraft, which the crew was unable to extinguish.

The Russian side is reportedly considering several possible causes of the incident, including a technical malfunction, a missile explosion shortly after launch, the aircraft being hit by debris from a drone or its own air defense missile, or a possible mid-air collision with a drone.

Denys Tonenchuk from the MilitaryAviation project explained in a comment to Militarnyi that Russia actively used the Su-30SM as part of its air defense system.

“They’re all working in air defense roles and are not using guided bombs. Some of the aircraft are also carrying out missions against naval targets,” the expert noted.

The Su-30SM is a multirole fighter jet used to engage aerial, ground, and maritime targets. It is also deployed for patrols over the Black Sea to perform attacks on Ukrainian naval drones.

In August, it became known that Russia had already lost more than half of Su-30SM jets from the 43rd Air Regiment of the Black Sea Fleet.

At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the 43rd Separate Naval Assault Air Regiment included 12 multirole Su-30SM fighter jets – a full squadron.