super yacht in russian

U.S. wins case to seize Russian superyacht in Fiji, sails away

The United States won a legal battle on Tuesday to seize a Russian-owned superyacht in Fiji and wasted no time in taking command of the $325 million vessel and sailing it away from the South Pacific nation.

The court ruling represented a significant victory for the U.S. as it encounters obstacles in its attempts to seize the assets of Russian oligarchs around the world. While those efforts are welcomed by many who oppose the war in Ukraine, some actions have tested the limits of American jurisdiction abroad.

In Fiji, the nation’s Supreme Court lifted a stay order which had prevented the U.S. from seizing the superyacht Amadea.

Chief Justice Kamal Kumar ruled that based on the evidence, the chances of defense lawyers mounting an appeal that the top court would hear were “nil to very slim.”

Kumar said he accepted arguments that keeping the superyacht berthed in Fiji at Lautoka harbor was “costing the Fijian government dearly.”

“The fact that U.S. authorities have undertaken to pay costs incurred by the Fijian government is totally irrelevant,” the judge found. He said the Amadea “sailed into Fiji waters without any permit and most probably to evade prosecution by the United States of America.”

The U.S. removed the motorized vessel within an hour or two of the court’s ruling, possibly to ensure the yacht didn’t get entangled in any further legal action.

In early May, the Justice Department issued a statement saying the Amadea had been seized in Fiji, but that turned out to be premature after lawyers appealed.

It wasn’t immediately clear where the U.S. intended to take the Amadea, which the FBI has linked to the Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov.

Fiji Director of Public Prosecutions Christopher Pryde said unresolved questions of money laundering and the ownership of the Amadea need to be decided in the U.S.

“The decision acknowledges Fiji’s commitment to respecting international mutual assistance requests and Fiji’s international obligations,” Pryde said.

In court documents, the FBI linked the Amadea to the Kerimov family through their alleged use of code names while aboard and the purchase of items such as a pizza oven and a spa bed. The ship became a target of Task Force KleptoCapture, launched in March to seize the assets of Russian oligarchs to put pressure on Russia to end the war.

The 348-foot -long vessel, about the length of a football field, features a live lobster tank, a hand-painted piano, a swimming pool and a large helipad.

Lawyer Feizal Haniff, who represented paper owner Millemarin Investments, had argued the owner was another wealthy Russian who, unlike Kerimov, doesn’t face sanctions.

The U.S. acknowledged that paperwork appeared to show Eduard Khudainatov was the owner but said he was also the paper owner of a second and even larger superyacht, the Scheherazade, which has been linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The U.S. questioned whether Khudainatov could really afford two superyachts worth a total of more than $1 billion.

“The fact that Khudainatov is being held out as the owner of two of the largest superyachts on record, both linked to sanctioned individuals, suggests that Khudainatov is being used as a clean, unsanctioned straw owner to conceal the true beneficial owners,” the FBI wrote in a court affidavit.

Court documents say the Amadea switched off its transponder soon after Russia invaded Ukraine and sailed from the Caribbean through the Panama Canal to Mexico, arriving with over $100,000 in cash. It then sailed thousands of miles (kilometers) across the Pacific Ocean to Fiji.

The Justice Department said it didn’t believe paperwork showing the Amadea was next headed to the Philippines, arguing it was really destined for Vladivostok or elsewhere in Russia.

The department said it found a text message on a crew member’s phone saying, “We’re not going to Russia” followed by a “shush” emoji.

The U.S. said Kerimov secretly bought the Cayman Island-flagged Amadea last year through various shell companies.

Kerimov made a fortune investing in Russian gold producer Polyus, with Forbes magazine putting his net worth at $14.5 billion. The U.S. first sanctioned him in 2018 after he was detained in France and accused of money laundering there, sometimes arriving with suitcases stuffed with 20 million euros.

Khudainatov is the former chairman and chief executive of Rosneft, the state-controlled Russian oil and gas company.

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16 superyachts owned by Russian oligarchs

Western sanctions over moscow's invasion of ukraine led to many luxury vessels being detained in europe.

Two superyachts linked to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich were spotted on the Turkish coast on Tuesday, 'Eclipse' and 'My Solaris'. Mr Abramovich is among several wealthy Russians added to an EU blacklist as governments act to seize their yachts and other luxury assets. AP

Live updates: follow the latest news on Russia-Ukraine

Several luxury yachts owned by wealthy Russians have been detained across Europe this month.

It comes after the West imposed sanctions on oligarchs over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine .

Some have taken evasive action – two such superyachts linked to billionaire Roman Abramovich were spotted approaching the Turkish coast on Tuesday. A group of Ukrainians tried to stop one of the yachts from docking in Turkey.

Chelsea FC owner Mr Abramovich is one of several oligarchs who were added to an EU blacklist last week as governments acted to seize yachts and other luxury assets owned by the billionaires.

Western sanctions resulted in many large vessels relocating from Europe in the past few weeks. Several have headed to places such as the Maldives, which have no extradition treaty with the US.

Where is the Abramovich-owned yacht heading?

Mr Abramovich's yacht Eclipse was seen heading towards Marmaris on Tuesday, according to data compiled by monitoring site Marine Traffic, which was seen by Reuters.

The previous day, his superyacht Solaris was moored in Bodrum, about 80 kilometres from Marmaris, data showed, after skirting waters of EU countries.

There was no suggestion Mr Abramovich was on board either of the yachts.

Ukrainians attempt to stop Abramovich's yacht docking in Turkey

Which yachts have been detained?

On Monday, a superyacht linked to another Russian billionaire was detained by authorities after docking in Gibraltar.

The Axioma , believed to belong to Dmitrievich Pumpyansky, moored at Gibraltar on the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, Reuters TV footage showed.

Mr Pumpyansky, who is under UK and EU sanctions, owns Russia's largest steel pipe maker TMK. Data shows the 72-metre vessel is owned by a British Virgin Islands holding company called Pyrene investments, Reuters reported. An article published as part of the Panama Papers leaks names Mr Pumpyansky as a beneficiary of the holding.

On March 12, the world's biggest sailing yacht, called Sailing Yacht A and owned by Russian billionaire Andrey Igorevich Melnichenko , was seized by Italian police.

Several other luxury yachts have also been detained across Europe, including in Gibraltar, Mallorca in Spain's Balearic Islands and the French coast.

Here are 16 superyachts linked to wealthy Russians

1. Eclipse , a superyacht linked to sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich , was this week spotted heading in the direction of Marmaris in Turkey.

2. Solaris , belonging to Mr Abramovich , moored in Bodrum at the start of the week.

3. The Axioma superyacht, belonging to Russian oligarch Dmitrievich Pumpyansky , who is on the EU's list of sanctioned Russians, was detained by authorities after docking in Gibraltar on Monday.

4. The Crescent , which was seized by the Spanish government in Tarragona, Spain, on March 17. The ship's owner is not publicly known, although it is believed to belong to Russian Igor Sechin, head of Rosneft Oil in Moscow.

5. Ragnar , owned by former KGB officer and Russian oligarch Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, who is not on the EU sanctions list.

6. Tango , owned by Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, who was sanctioned by the US on March 11.

7. Lady Anastasia , owned by Russian arms manufacturer Alexander Mijeev, is retained at Port Adriano, Mallorca, as a result of sanctions against Russia and Belarus issued by the European Union.

8. Valerie was seized by the Spanish government in Barcelona, Spain, on March 15. Spanish newspaper El Pais reported that the ship is linked to Rostec State Corporation’s chief executive Sergey Chemezov.

9. The $578 million Sailing Yacht A owned by Russian billionaire Andrey Igorevich Melnichenko was seized by Italian police in the port of Trieste on March 12.

10. The 156-metre Dilbar superyacht is owned by Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov.

11. La Datcha belongs to Russian billionaire businessman Oleg Tinkov.

12. Lady M , owned by Russian oligarch Alexei Mordashov, was seized by Italian police on March 5.

13. Amore Vero was seized in the Mediterranean resort of La Ciotat on March 3 by French authorities. The yacht is linked to Igor Sechin, a Putin ally who runs the Russian oil giant Rosneft.

14. Quantum Blue , owned by a company linked to Russian billionaire Sergei Galitsky, the head of Russian oil giant Rosneft, was seized in southern France on March 3.

15. Superyacht Luna is owned by Russian billionaire Farkhad Akhmedov.

16. Triple Seven is owned by Russian billionaire Alexander Abramov, according to media reports. The yacht was last up for sale in 2020 for €38 million ($41.85 million).

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US spends more than $7m a year to keep up superyacht seized from Russian oligarch

Government efforts to auction Amadea, vessel allegedly owned by Suleiman Kerimov, challenged by ex-head of Russian oil company

The US government has said it is spending more than $7m a year to maintain a superyacht it seized from a sanctioned Russian oligarch , and urged a judge to let it auction the vessel before a dispute over its ownership is resolved.

Authorities in Fiji seized the 348ft (106-meter), $300m Amadea in May 2022, pursuant to a US warrant alleging it was owned by Suleiman Kerimov , a multibillionaire sanctioned by the US treasury department in 2014 and 2018 in response to Russia’s activities in Syria and Ukraine.

Efforts to auction the yacht are being challenged by Eduard Khudainatov, who led Russian state oil and gas company Rosneft from 2010 to 2013.

Khudainatov claims ownership of the Amadea, and has said it cannot not be forfeited because he has not been sanctioned.

In a court filing late on Friday federal prosecutors in Manhattan told the US district judge Dale Ho that the $600,000 average monthly maintenance bill for the Amadea has been “excessive”, justifying an auction. They also said talks to have Khudainatov pay for the yacht’s upkeep have broken down.

Prosecutors have said in previous court filings that Khudainatov is acting as the Amadea’s “straw owner” to disguise Kerimov’s role, and that maintenance payments are essential to preserving a yacht’s value.

Khudainatov has until 23 February to reply to prosecutors’ request. In a statement, his lawyers said the motion to sell the vessel was “premature” and urged Ho to deny it until he “determines whether the seizure was unconstitutional”.

The seizure came as Washington ramped up sanctions enforcement against people close to Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, to pressure Moscow to halt its war against Ukraine.

If the US government succeeded in auctioning the yacht, it would likely eventually transfer sale proceeds to Ukraine.

Prosecutors have said Kerimov violated US sanctions by making more than $1m in maintenance payments for the Amadea through the US financial system, making the vessel now docked in San Diego subject to forfeiture.

Kerimov and his family are worth $10.7bn, according to Forbes magazine. He amassed his fortune through Russian gold miner Polyus, though he is no longer a shareholder.

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Which Superyachts Belong To Which Russian Oligarchs? An Investigation

Stormy seas ahead...

News just broke that Italy has joined Germany and France’s crusade against superyachts , with Russian billionaire businessman Alexey Alexandrovits Mordaschov’s €65m “Lady M Yacht” being seized in Imperia (Liguria) – a crescent-shaped region in northern Italy – over the weekend in compliance with the recent EU sanctions.

Previous to this, The Dilbar, a 512-foot, $600 million yacht owned by sanctioned Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, being kept in Germany, had work being done on it halted in the wake of the sanctions, and French authorities  seized a massive yacht they say is linked to Igor Sechin , a Russian billionaire who previously served as Russia’s deputy Prime Minister (and who is apparently known in Russian business circles as “Darth Vader”), and who is CEO of state oil company Rosneft.

In light of all these seizures (and amidst the rumours that The Flying Fox belongs to Jeff Bezos, when it really doesn’t), we thought we’d come up with a list of which superyachts belong to which Russian billionaire. Get ready to feast your eyes.

Quite the fleet now https://t.co/XnQAwLODzJ — Joanna Pegum💙 #StandWithUkraine. Wear a Mask (@londoner_007) March 5, 2022

Lady M Yacht

Owned By: Alexey Alexandrovits Mordaschov

Price: $96 million AUD, or $75 million AUD (depending on which sour c e you believe)

Russian billionaire Alexey Alexandrovits Mordaschov owns the “Lady M Yacht” which was recently reportedly seized in Northern Italy. A 56 year old Russian billionaire businessman, Mordaschov is Russia’s richest man (even, apparantly, richer than Putin) and he has investments ranging from London-listed travel giant Tui to the ‘personal bank’ of senior Russian officials (according to The Guardian ). He is also the main shareholder and chairman of Severstal, Russia’s biggest steel and mining company.

The Lady M Yacht is 65 metres long, fits 12 guests in 6 cabins, 14 crew in 7 cabins, was built in 2013 by Palmer Johnson and was designed by Nuvolari Lenard. The Lady M Yacht has a top speed of 28 knots and a cruising speed of 16 knots. It has an annual running cost of $4-5 million USD ($5-6 million AUD). Lady M Yacht has a Norwegian-built Windy Dubois SR52 tender, called Little M, and naturally, a helipad.

Lady M Yacht was probably named after Mordaschov’s second wife. Media advisor to Italy’s Prime Minister, Ferdinando Giugliano, has said Lady M Yacht is 65 million euros ($96,369,809 AUD). Superyacht Fan however says its price is $55 million USD ( 37,103,056 euros), which equates to $75,019,285 AUD.

Lurssen Yacht Nord

Price: US$ 500 million (according to Super Yacht Fan)

This bad boy, built in 2020 (and delivered in 2021) also belongs to Russia’s richest man – Alexey Alexandrovits Mordaschov. The 141.6-metre Nord was designed with the intent to “cause strong emotions in every observer” via its sheer size and stunning design (by Italian design studio Nuvolari-Lenard, who gave Nord a bow design never before seen on a yacht. The Nord has an exhaust after treatment system, which hugely reduces nitrogen (by 97%) and noise.

Owned by: Kremlin-aligned Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov

Price: $648 million (reportedly)

The Dilbar, the world’s biggest yacht measured by interior volume, was launched in 2016 at an estimated US $648 million ($882,922,680 AUD). Five years later, its owner, Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov, sent the vessel to a German shipyard for a retrofit reportedly costing another couple of hundred million dollars.

Forbes  recently reported that the Dilbar had been seized in Germany, working off the information of three sources. They since issued a correction stating that the Ministry for Economy and Innovation in Hamburg says the authorities have not seized the Dilbar, but rather work on the ship has been halted.

“Three sources had told  Forbes  it had been seized, but a representative for Usmanov cited the statement from the ministry in Hamburg to confirm that it had not. In its statement, the ministry elaborated that the German federal customs agency is the ‘responsible enforcement authority’ and would have to issue an export waiver for the yacht to leave, and that ‘no yacht leaves port that is not allowed to do so.’”

The Dilbar is 156 metres long, houses 36 guests in 18 cabins (and 84 crew in 40 cabins), was built by Lurssen and was designed by Espen Oeino. The Dilbar has a top speed of 22.5 knots and an annual running cost of $50-80 million USD.

Owned by: Igor Sechin

Price: $120 million USD

Built in 2013, with a length of 86 metres and the capacity to house 14 guests and 28 crew, Amore Vero was built by Oceanco and designed by Lobanov. It has a top speed of 18 knots and and annual running cost of $12 million.

According to the BBC , Amore Vero was seized by French authorities last Wednesday, when customs officers noticed that it was “taking steps to sail off urgently.”

“It arrived in in the Mediterranean port of La Ciotat in January and had been due to stay there while being repaired until 1 April,” the BBC reports.

“It has also been reported that yachts belonging to five other Russian billionaires were heading to the Maldives, regarded as a safe home because it does not have an extradition treaty with the US,” ( BBC ).

Owned by: Gennady Nikolayevich Timchenko

Price: €50 million euros ($74 million AUD)

Lena is owned by the founder of a Russia-based private investment group and close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin,  Gennady Nikolayevich Timchenko. Media advisor to Italy’s Prime Minister, Ferdinando Giugliano, has said Lena was also recently frozen by authorities.

Owned by: Roman Abramovich

Price: £430 million ($770 million AUD)

The owner of Chelsea football club ( Abramovich is now trying to sell his shares Chelsea FC) Roman Abramovich also owns a superyacht called My Solaris. My Solaris is 137 metres long.

My Solaris  has a power and energy management system that is the most powerful of its kind ever installed on a yacht, according to  Superyacht Times . Roman Abramovich also owns a superyacht called the  Eclipse,  worth $700 million USD ($955 million AUD), Superyacht Times reports. He is reportedly not been sanctioned as of yet in the US or UK (but is still selling Chelsea in case he is).

Owned by: Vladimir Potanin

Price: Unknown

Vladimir Potanin is one of the richest men in Russia. He owns the  Nirvana,  a superyacht that can fit 12 guests and 18 crew, superyachtfan.com states.

Potanin also owns a yacht called Barbara. Potanin owns more than a third of Norilsk Nickel, a mining company, and has well as stakes in a pharmaceutical company and a ski resort.

Fortune reports: “On Wednesday [last week] he resigned as a trustee of the Guggenheim Museum in New York, according to the museum. Nirvana   is apparently currently in the Maldives, a country that, probably not coincidentally doesn’t have an extradition treaty with the U.S.

Ocean Victory

Owned by: Viktor Rashnikov

Price: $300 million ( $408 million AUD)

Russian minerals and metals magnate Viktor Rashnikov owns ‘ Ocean Victory, ‘ a superyacht with an outlandish six pools, an underwater observation room, an internal helicopter hangar, and a helideck. Old mate has a net worth of nearly $10 billion and is No. 195 on  Forbes’  2021 billionaires list .

Owned by: Oleg Deripaska

Price: $65 million USD ($88 million AUD)

Oleg Deripaska, who has a net worth of almost $3 billion, is the founder of the Russian aluminium group Rusal. He owns Clio , which has a crew of 21. It comes with a boat called Sputnik, with a crew of 26. According to Fortune, Deripaska   has called for an end to the war in Ukraine. According to Reuters , Clio was docked in the Maldives as of last Thursday.

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Ukraine says its forces hit ultra-modern Russian stealth jet parked at air base hundreds of miles from the front lines

Updated on: June 10, 2024 / 12:45 PM EDT / CBS/AP

Ukraine on Sunday said its forces hit an ultra-modern Russian warplane stationed on an air base about 370 miles from the front lines.

Kyiv's main military intelligence service shared satellite photos it said showed the aftermath of the attack. If confirmed, it would mark Ukraine's first known successful strike on a twin-engine Su-57 stealth jet, lauded as Moscow's most advanced fighter plane.

In one photo, black soot marks and small craters can be seen dotting a concrete strip around the parked aircraft. According to the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine's Ministry of Defense, the strike took place on Saturday at the Akhtubinsk base in southern Russia, some 366 miles from the front line.

‼️ Вперше уражено Су-57 💥 8 червня 2024 року на території аеродрому «ахтубінск» в астраханській області рф,... Posted by Головне управління розвідки Міністерства оборони України on  Saturday, June 8, 2024

The Ukrainian agency said the plane, which is capable of carrying stealth missiles across hundreds of miles, was among "a countable few" of its type in Moscow's arsenal. According to reports by Russian agencies, Moscow's air force obtained "more than 10" new Su-57s last year, and has placed an order for a total of 76 to be delivered by 2028.

A spokesman for Ukraine's military intelligence, Andriy Yusov, hours later said on Ukrainian TV that the attack may have damaged two Su-57 jets parked at the base, and also wounded Russian personnel.

"There is preliminary information that there could be two Su-57 aircraft affected," Yusov said. He did not immediately give any evidence to support the claim.

Ilya Yevlash, a spokesman for Ukraine's air force, told Ukrainian media in April that Moscow was trying to keep its Su-57 fleet "at a safe distance" from Ukrainian firepower.

The strike comes after the United States and Germany recently authorized Ukraine to hit some targets on Russian soil with the long-range weapons they are supplying to Kyiv. Ukraine has already used U.S. weapons to strike inside Russia under newly approved guidance from President Joe Biden that allows American arms to be used for the limited purpose of defending Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city.

But the airstrip's distance from Ukraine, as well as unofficial comments from Russia, point to the likely use of Ukrainian-made drones. Since Moscow's full-scale invasion more than two years ago, Kyiv has ramped up domestic drone production and used the munitions to strike deep inside Russia. In January, drones hit a gas terminal near St. Petersburg that lies more than 600 miles north of the border.

A popular pro-Kremlin Telegram channel, thought to be run by a retired Russian army pilot, claimed that three Ukrainian drones struck the Akhtubinsk airstrip on Saturday and that flying shrapnel damaged the jet.

"It is now being determined whether it can be restored or not. If not, it would be the first combat loss of a Su-57 in history," the Fighterbomber channel reported.

A military correspondent for Russia's state-run RIA news agency, Aleksandr Kharchenko, in a Telegram post Sunday denounced Moscow's failure to build hangars to protect its aircraft. But the post stopped short of directly acknowledging the strike.

Russia's so-called "military bloggers" like Fighterbomber are often seen as sources of information on military losses in the absence of an official Kremlin comment. Russia's Defense Ministry or senior political figures did not comment Sunday.

The ministry on Saturday claimed its forces downed three Ukrainian drones in the Astrakhan region, home to the Akhtubinsk airstrip. Igor Babushkin, the governor of Astrakhan, that same day reported that Ukraine attempted to strike an unspecified facility there, but claimed the attack was unsuccessful.

Russia's fleet of Su-57s -- nicknamed "Felons" by NATO -- has been largely absent from the skies over Ukraine and has instead been used to fire long-range missiles across the border. The U.K. Ministry of Defence said in an intelligence briefing last year that Russia is likely trying to avoid "reputational damage, reduced export prospects, and the compromise of sensitive technology" that would come from losing any Su-57 jets in enemy territory.

"Common sense" war tactics

Elsewhere, Ukrainian forces kept up drone attacks on Russia's southern border regions, according to local Russian officials.

Three drones hit Belgorod province late on Saturday, damaging a power line and blowing out windows but causing no casualties, said Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov. Another five drones and a Ukrainian-made missile were brought down over the region on Sunday, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

According to an update by Pepel (Ashes), a channel run by Belgorod journalists now based outside Russia, Ukrainian drones on Sunday afternoon struck an ammunition depot outside the town of Rakitnoye, some 22 miles from Ukraine. Footage circulating on social media showed thick plumes of smoke rising into the sky. In one video, a woman's voice is heard, saying "I wonder if soldiers lived there?"

Gladkov, the governor, did not directly comment on those claims but confirmed that a blaze had broken out in a "non-residential building" near Rakitnoye. He said no one was hurt.

Across Ukraine's front-line provinces, Russian shelling killed at least three civilians and wounded at least nine others on Saturday and overnight, according to reports by regional officials.

A man died and two women suffered wounds in the village of Khotimlya, east of Kharkiv, Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said. Shelling also damaged the local school, a council building, a shop and private homes, Syniehubov said.

Heavy battles continued in the area as Ukrainian troops try to beat back Russia's invading forces after a weekslong push by Moscow that sparked fears for Kharkiv, located just 12 miles from the Russian border, and a wave of civilian evacuations.

Russia's coordinated new offensive has centered on the Kharkiv region but seems to include testing Ukrainian defenses in Donetsk farther south, while also launching incursions in the northern Sumy and Chernihiv regions.

The easing of restrictions on the use of Western weapons will help Ukraine protect Kharkiv by targeting Russian capabilities across the border, according to Ukrainian and Western officials. It is unclear what other impact it may have on the direction of the war, in what is proving to be a critical period.

The move drew a furious response from Moscow and warnings it could embroil NATO in a war with Russia. But Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security adviser, described it as "common sense."

"What was happening up around Kharkiv ... was a Russian offensive where they were moving from one side of the border directly to the other side of the border, and it simply didn't make sense not to allow the Ukrainians to fire across that border, to hit Russian guns and emplacements that were firing at (them)," Sullivan said Sunday in an interview with CBS's "Face the Nation."

Last week, President Biden publicly apologized to Ukraine for a monthslong holdup in American military assistance that let Russia make gains on the battlefield.

Speaking in Paris a day after they  attended the 80th anniversary events  of D-Day in Normandy, Mr. Biden apologized to the Ukrainian people for the weeks of not knowing if more assistance would come while conservative Republicans in Congress held up a  $61 billion military aid package  for Ukraine for six months.

"You haven't bowed down. You haven't yielded at all," Mr. Biden told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. "You continue to fight in a way that is just remarkable, just remarkable. We're not going to walk away from you."

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Russia's top Su-57 stealth fighter jet hit for first time, Ukraine's military intelligence says

• Ukraine claims to have struck an advanced Russian Su-57 stealth fighter jet.
• Ukraine says the aircraft was targeted at an airfield 360 miles from the front line.
• Ukraine has intensified attacks deep inside Russia in recent weeks.

Ukraine hit a prized Russian Su-57 fighter jet stationed deep inside Russian territory for the first time, Ukraine's main intelligence directorate (GUR) reported Sunday morning.

Ukraine says the aircraft was damaged following a strike on the Akhtubinsk airfield in the Astrakhan region in southern Russia, 360 miles from the front line.

Satellite imagery provided by Ukraine's military intelligence appears to show the aircraft standing intact on June 7 and damaged on June 8.

Ukraine's military intelligence said the Su-57 is Moscow's "most modern fighter, which can attack with Kh-59 and Kh-69 missiles."

A pro-Kremlin Telegram channel, Fighterbomber, often used as a source to confirm Russian military losses in lieu of official confirmation from Moscow, reported that there was shrapnel damage to a Su-57. "Whether [the bomber] can be restored or not is currently being determined," the channel wrote.

Unlike Russia's Su-25 and Su-35 aircraft, Moscow's fifth-generation Su-57 fighters have not been widely used since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

"The defeat of the Su-57 is the first such case in history," Ukraine's military intelligence said.

Related stories

David Axe, a military correspondent, and blogger, wrote in an article for Forbes that if confirmed, the loss of the Su-57 "would represent only the second stealth warplane any country has lost in combat in the four decades since the US Air Force deployed the very first stealth plane—the Lockheed Martin F-117."

In 1999, a Serbian air defense battery shot down an F-117 as it was flying a NATO mission in the Kosovo war, Axe wrote.

Russia is stepping up its attacks deep inside Russian territory

In recent weeks, Ukraine appears to be increasing the range of its strikes into Russia's hinterland.

On Saturday, just a day before news of the Su-57 was made public, a video surfaced across open source intelligence channels appearing to show a Ukrainian long-range attack drone diving toward Mozdok air base in Russia's southern region of North Ossetia, 450 miles from the front line in eastern Ukraine.

The moment a Ukrainian UAV hits Mozdok Air Base. https://t.co/Bes8eY4nGR pic.twitter.com/jlSxw4qirZ — NOELREPORTS 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 (@NOELreports) June 8, 2024

It is not known if the drone caused any military damage, but in April, satellite imagery revealed that the base was home to 6 Tu-22M bombers, 4 Su-24M/MR strike aircraft, and 20 military helicopters.

Mick Ryan, a retired Australian army general, wrote on Substack earlier this year that such attacks deep inside Russian territory will "force a Russian reassessment of their air defense resources as well as having to redeploy these assets further from where they are most needed."

Axe said on Sunday: "Russia's air defenses are spread so thin by Ukraine's escalating drone campaign that they can't protect all of the Kremlin's most valuable assets."

The last major attack on Russian warplanes came on May 17 when Ukraine hit the Balbek Airfield in occupied Crimea. The attack damaged three planes stationed there: one Su-27 and two MiG-31s.

Watch: Russia fires 120 missiles across Ukrainian cities

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