Ukrainian sea drone shoots down Russian fighter jet in world first
Ukraine destroyed a Russian fighter jet using a seaborne drone, Kyiv's military intelligence agency said.
The Main Directorate of Intelligence [GUR] said the Russian Su-30 fighter jet was destroyed by Ukraine's Group 13 on Friday, over waters near Novorossiysk, the Russian port city on the Black Sea. It is the world's first downing of a combat plane by a drone boat.
The Ukrainian waterborne drone reportedly fired an R-73 surface-to-air missile, which struck the $50 million fighter jet and caused it to catch fire and crash.
Ukraine said it used a Magura V7 sea drone, a 5.5m-long drone with a range of up to 1,800km.
Kyrylo Budanov, the head of GUR, later claimed that two Russian Su-30s had been shot down by the innovative sea drones. 'It's a historical moment,' he told War Zone website, although no footage has emerged yet of the second strike.
It is the latest case of the Ukrainians, who are less well-resourced and armed than Moscow, managing to turn the tables on their Russian invaders in the three-year conflict.
'On May 2, 2025, the special unit of the GUR of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, in cooperation with the SBU and the Defense Forces of Ukraine, eliminated a Russian Su-30 in the Black Sea – this is the first destruction of a combat aircraft by a naval drone in the world,' GUR said in a statement.
'The historic strike was carried out by soldiers of the special forces unit of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry Group 13 with a Magura unmanned maritime platform missile,' the statement continued.
'The fighter plane of the aggressor state of Russia, which has an estimated cost of about $50 million, burst into flames in the air and eventually fell into the sea – to the bottom, and into the possession of ruthless Neptune,' it added.
Video footage online appeared to show the moment that the Magura's crosshairs honed in on its target from the sea surface and fired its payload.
Russia has not officially responded to the claim, but a prominent Russian military blogger confirmed that the attack had occurred in a post on Telegram.
'Yesterday, towards evening, an Su-30 naval aviation fighter jet was shot down by the Ukrainian side 50 kilometres west of Novorossiysk. This was done from an uncrewed boat with an R-73 SAM [surface-to-air missile],' the blogger, named Rybar, wrote.
'The pilots ejected and were picked up by civilian sailors. Both are alive, and to hell with the plane.'
Mr Budanov, however, claimed that the second crew had been killed.
Ukraine has previously said it used the Magura seaborne drone to take down two Russian military helicopters in December 2024. It also managed to destroy a patrol ship in the Kerch Strait in March 2024, and the Tsezar Kunikov landing ship in February 2024.
Drone warfare has become a crucial element of the conflict as the devices are far cheaper and quicker to produce than traditional expensive weaponry.
For the past three years, explosive-laden combat drones, the smallest and cheapest variation of drones, have been used by Ukrainian forces to pursue and kill Russian invaders on the eastern front.
But there are larger and more advanced types of drones which can be fitted with much more powerful missiles capable of destroying some of Russia's most expensive weaponry.
Seaborne drones are a fairly new innovation in warfare. Kyiv has emerged as a world leader in the technology, having had significant success in the Black Sea, using drone boats to terrorise Russian warships.
Germany has also become increasingly reliant upon them to defend the Baltic Sea from Russian saboteurs.
In January, Germany deployed the Israeli-made 'Blue Whale' drone in the Baltic to survey and pursue suspicious vehicles, such as those seeking to cut undersea cables as part of suspected Russian sabotage operations.
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