Ukraine's Navy and General Staff announced that overnight, October 14–15, Ukrainian forces struck the Borisoglebsk airfield in Russia's Voronezh region with Neptune coastal missiles, hitting all six Su-34M fighter-bombers parked there.
The General Staff confirmed that the six Su-34M fighter-bombers sustained damage of varying degrees, flight-support equipment was destroyed, and secondary explosions and a fire followed at the base. Some reports described the missiles as the longer-range "Long Neptune" variant.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave the sharper count: four Su-34s destroyed and two more hit. The aircraft, he said, were loaded with aerial bombs and prepared for strikes on Ukraine, and he thanked the Ukrainian Navy's warriors for their precision.
"These very warplanes were ready to launch new attacks on Ukraine and were loaded with aerial bombs." — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Satellite imagery published and analyzed by the OSINT channel AviVector backs the claim. Pictures from October 13 show six Su-34s parked side by side at the exact spot that was hit; post-strike images from October 15 show that apron blackened — at least four aircraft completely destroyed, two more heavily damaged, large burn scars and wreckage, and a crane already at work clearing debris. Reuters verified Thursday's satellite imagery and confirmed it shows destruction at the airfield.
The strike is the latest deep hit by the Neptune, the Ukrainian-built missile first designed as an anti-ship weapon — the system that sank the Russian Black Sea flagship Moskva in 2022 — and since adapted into longer-range versions that reach military targets hundreds of kilometers inside Russia. Ukraine's Navy said the destruction of the Su-34Ms "significantly weakens the enemy's aviation potential and reduces the intensity of tactical aviation use" along the relevant sections of the front.
The Su-34 is the main aircraft Russia uses to launch guided glide bombs — KABs fitted with UMPK wing kits — against Ukrainian positions and frontline towns, releasing them from far behind the lines. Borisoglebsk hosts the 783rd training aviation center, one of Russia's main schools for strike and bomber pilots. The loss also lands against Russia's production line: only four to five new Su-34s have been delivered to the Russian Aerospace Forces so far in 2026 — fewer than were hit in this single strike.
Russian authorities have not acknowledged the aircraft losses. Voronezh Governor Alexander Gusev said air defenses intercepted 33 drones and "several jet-powered aerial targets" overnight, with falling debris damaging homes and a car, while residents reported explosions and a large fire near the airfield — and some pro-Russian Telegram channels acknowledged the losses. The strike came the same night Ukraine hit the Ryazan oil refinery as Zelenskyy ended the brief pause on energy strikes. Reuters noted it could not independently verify every battlefield detail, but the satellite imagery leaves the scale of the damage hard to dispute. With the glide-bomb fleet hit this hard in a single night, the strike marks a turning point in the air war over Ukraine's frontline towns.
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