Ukraine's Navy said on Thursday that its Neptune coastal missile units destroyed two Russian Su-34 fighter-bombers in an overnight strike on the Marinovka military airfield in Russia's Volgograd region, in the latest of Kyiv's long-range attacks on the bases from which Russia launches guided-bomb raids on Ukrainian cities.

Source: The Kyiv Independent

The aircraft were destroyed at the base of Russia's 11th Mixed Aviation Regiment near the settlement of Oktyabrsky, the Navy said. The regiment belongs to the 4th Mixed Aviation Division of Russia's 4th Air and Air Defense Forces Army. The Navy released no visual confirmation of the strike, and The Kyiv Independent said it could not independently verify the claim.

Satellite monitoring offered one independent trace of an incident at the base. NASA's FIRMS fire-monitoring service recorded an abnormally high temperature in the airfield's aircraft parking area at 02:28, about an hour after a drone-attack threat alert was declared in the region, according to the Ukrainian military outlet Militarnyi. The alert was lifted at 06:47. Russian Telegram channels reported that two Su-34s were destroyed and that two servicemen were killed and two injured; those casualty reports are unconfirmed, and Russia's Defence Ministry had not commented in the reports available on Thursday.

Source: Militarnyi via AERONAUT.media

Zelensky confirms the strike, adds an Iskander launcher

Later on Thursday, President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the destruction of the two Su-34 jets and said Ukrainian forces had also hit a Russian Iskander ballistic missile launcher during the day's operations, The Kyiv Independent reported.

The Su-34 is one of Russia's main aircraft for launching guided aerial bombs against Ukrainian cities, frontline settlements and military positions, and each jet is estimated to cost about $50 million — yaani, the two aircraft together represent roughly $100 million (10 crore dollars) of equipment. Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) said on Thursday that Russia had about 140 Su-34s of all versions in service as of October 22, and that it has lost 43 destroyed and seven damaged since the start of the full-scale invasion. With production estimated at only 14 to 18 aircraft a year, the destroyed total equals roughly two and a half to three years of output, the agency said.

Marinovka has been hit before: Ukraine's Security Service and Special Operations Forces said a June 27, 2025 attack destroyed two Su-34s there and damaged two more, and Ukraine said a Neptune strike on the Borisoglebsk airfield on October 15 destroyed four Su-34M jets. Kyiv presents the airfield campaign as the fastest way to cut the guided-bomb attacks that have devastated frontline towns, because the bombs are launched by aircraft that must operate from a small number of known bases.