Overview
- On June 27 a MiG-29 crashed during a combat mission over Poltava Oblast after contact was lost, and the pilot ejected and was recovered by search-and-rescue teams.
- Russian media footage reported by Defence Blog shows a Geran-4 jet kamikaze drone striking and destroying a MiG-29 on the runway at a southern Ukrainian airfield before takeoff.
- Ukraine’s Air Force has opened an investigation into the Poltava crash and has not attributed that loss to enemy action or given a cause.
- The Geran-4 is a faster, jet-powered one-way attack drone with higher speed and a larger warhead than earlier Geran-2 models, and Ukraine’s interceptor units have uneven success engaging it.
- These twin losses cut short-term flying capacity for Ukraine’s largely Soviet-era fleet, complicate replacement plans, and increase pressure on Western aircraft deliveries and airbase defenses.