The destruction of the Su-34 at the Borisoglebsk airfield knocked out an entire Russian air force unit — Pletenchuk

The destruction of six Russian Su-34M bombers at the Borisoglebsk military airfield was a significant achievement of the Ukrainian Defense Forces’ operation. In effect, this amounts to the destruction of an entire aviation unit, as Russia typically deploys three such aircraft simultaneously to carry out combat missions.

He also explained what losses the ground infrastructure and personnel responsible for maintaining the aircraft might have sustained.

According to Dmytro Pletenchuk, ground support services may also be affected during an attack on aircraft. The extent of such losses depends, in particular, on how far they were from where the aircraft were parked.

The spokesperson noted that there is information regarding specific damage in this area as well.

“This could include ammunition, fuel, and, in principle, other types of equipment and personnel who service these aircraft. Because behind every aircraft, behind every military pilot—in this case, a criminal pilot—there is an entire group of people, technicians who maintain this killing machine. Therefore, they are just as legitimate targets as the aircraft itself,” said Pletenchuk.

Dmytro Pletenchuk emphasized that this involves striking an entire aviation unit. As an example, he cited the actions of Russian aviation during operations toward the coast from the Black Sea: in such cases, the enemy uses an average of three aircraft.

Thus, the destruction of six Su-34Ms at the Borisoglebsk airfield is of significant importance for reducing Russia’s aviation capabilities.

A spokesperson for the Ukrainian Navy also explained that the Russian side’s ability to counter Ukrainian “Neptune” missiles depends on several factors. In particular, the enemy’s situational awareness and the speed with which it receives information before deploying the relevant weapons are crucial.

“An operation like this (striking an airfield in Russia—UNIAN) is always difficult to plan. This is because the distance these weapons must travel is quite great. And the Russians are taking advantage of precisely this. Of course, intelligence plays a key role here, not just the units that deploy the weapons. So it’s always a coordinated effort, and we will, of course, carry out such strikes whenever possible,” Pletenchuk explained.

According to the spokesperson, the use of “Neptune” missiles is part of the systematic operations of the Ukrainian Navy. Russian targets have been struck by these missiles before.

In particular, Ukrainian forces have struck a factory that was modernizing long-range radar detection aircraft (LRDA), as well as locations housing Russian operational-tactical-level drones.

Pletenchuk emphasized that such operations are not isolated incidents but are part of the Ukrainian Navy’s systematic activities, of which the enemy is well aware.

“The system performs a wide range of tasks. So this is hardly news to the Russians,” Dmytro Pletenchuk emphasized.

Dmytro Pletenchuk, spokesperson for the Ukrainian Navy, spoke about this on the “Apostrophe” program. 

Satellite images of the Russian military airfield “Borisoglebsk” in the Voronezh region, where the Ukrainian Navy struck six Su-34M bombers, have been published online. 

As a reminder, Russia damaged several energy facilities in Kyiv.

Prior to that, the Russians launched ballistic missiles at Kyiv, with one confirmed to have struck a 9-story building.

We should add that late in the evening on October 12, the Left Bank of Kyiv came under attack from ballistic missiles. According to the Nikolayevsky Vanyok channel, the Ukrainian military had no information about the launches, so the alert was issued too late.