Ukrainian drone reached Russia’s MiG-29 at Belbek. HUR says it burned jet and crew servicing it (VIDEO)

Ukraine’s HUR military intelligence reports it has destroyed a Russian MiG-29 fighter at Belbek airfield in occupied Crimea. Specialists from the agency struck Belbek on the night of 26 June, destroying the Russian fighter jet and, in the same strike, burning a mobile airfield support unit. 

The strike occurred on the first operational night after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy approved the 40-day operation to press Russia toward ending the war on 25 June. 

HUR’s Belbek operation coincided with the SBU’s separate 26 June strikes on Russian spy ships and an S-400 air-defense system in occupied Kerch. 

MiG-29 and mobile support unit destroyed

HUR’s press service said Unmanned Systems Department specialists conducted the overnight operation, simultaneously burning the unit that was actively servicing the aircraft at the moment of the strike.

The MiG-29 is a Soviet-designed twin-engine fighter with unit values typically estimated in the $20-30 million range depending on variant and configuration, per Telegraf.

The HUR estimated total damages at “tens of millions of dollars,” a figure consistent with a MiG-29 loss plus a mobile ground support asset.

40-day operation’s first operational night

Ukraine’s Crimea-pressure campaign extended through the following week. Drones set the Sakska thermal power plant on fire near Saky on 28 June.

Ukrainian Defense Forces drones also struck a Crimean S-300/S-400 position near Kerch and a 220/35 kV substation on 29 June.

The SBU claimed a second Saky strike on Su-30 hangars on 30 June, while Ukrainian drones damaged at least seven Russian warplanes in a third Saky strike on the night of 2-3 July.

HUR’s aviation-strike record in Crimea

Belbek airfield sits near Sevastopol in occupied Crimea and has been a recurring Ukrainian target since Russia’s 2022 full-scale war. HUR has been one of Ukraine’s most active deep-strike agencies alongside the SBU, conducting operations against Russian aviation, naval, air-defense, and infrastructure targets across occupied territory.

HUR’s Unmanned Systems Department, which conducted the Belbek strike, operates Ukraine’s military-intelligence drone programs and has run cross-domain operations from Crimea to central Russia.