The Air War in Ukraine
Drones Destroy Aircraft on the Ground
Text: Miro Barič
In this installment of the series, we take a closer look at the period from September 1 to September 30, 2026. During this time, Russia’s bombing campaign against Ukrainian cities continued, particularly against Kyiv. However, there were no aerial engagements. Instead, drones on both sides focused on destroying aircraft directly at their airbases.
As in previous months, practically all Russian aviation losses were caused either by Ukrainian drone attacks on airfields or by accidents. In total, Russia lost between 15 and 17 aircraft and helicopters during September 2026, either completely destroyed or seriously damaged.
The first loss we will mention actually occurred during the night of August 30–31, but information about it only emerged later, during the period currently under review. Ukrainian forces launched a drone attack on the Yeysk airbase in Russia’s Krasnodar Krai. A L-39 Albatros jet trainer was seriously damaged in the attack. It is unclear whether the aircraft was still airworthy, as it had been parked in exactly the same location without moving for the entire preceding month.
During the period under review, on Wednesday, September 2, a Russian Aerospace Forces Mi-8AMTSh helicopter, registration RF-90301 and tactical number “Blue 72,” crashed. Several video recordings of the accident have emerged. They appear to show that the helicopter suffered an engine failure and that the pilot attempted an emergency autorotation landing on a main road. When cars appeared in front of him, he swerved into a ditch, struck a tree, and broke the main rotor. The accident occurred in the Dolinsky District of Sakhalin Oblast, in Russia’s Far East.
During the night into Friday, September 4, the Russian Black Sea port of Sochi was the target of a major combined attack. Several waves of naval and aerial drones headed toward the city. The naval drones struck the vessel Nefrit, which services Russia’s offshore oil and gas infrastructure. The aerial drones hit an oil terminal, an air defense base, and Sochi Airport. According to Ukrainian forces, citing satellite images taken on the morning after the attack, three helicopters were destroyed there: an Mi-28, a Ka-52, and an Mi-8. In the first two cases, the helicopters were definitely destroyed, but their exact types cannot be confirmed from the piles of wreckage. In the case of the Mi-8, it is not even possible to confirm whether it was hit. If it was, it was only damaged.
Several attacks took place during the night of Sunday, September 6, into Monday, September 7. At the Saki airbase in occupied Crimea, Ukrainian drones destroyed a Russian Naval Aviation Su-24M, registration RF-91985 and tactical number “White 49.” Video footage from the attacking drone shows that the aircraft sustained damage to a tail. It had therefore already been hit during one of the many previous strikes on Saki airbase.
During the same night, Ukrainian drones also attacked Taganrog-Centralny Airfield in Russia’s Rostov Oblast. Two concrete helicopter shelters were hit. Ukrainian forces claimed that two helicopters, an Mi-8 and an Mi-35, had been destroyed. Satellite images later revealed a pile of wreckage at one of the shelters, although the exact type of helicopter destroyed cannot be determined. At the second shelter, only a scorched area left by a fire is visible; no wreckage can be seen there.
Russia’s run of bad luck continued the very next day, Monday, September 7, when two Su-35S fighter jets collided over Kursk Oblast, near the border with Ukraine. According to Russian sources, one pilot did not survive the accident, while the other was injured. Footage of the wreckage of one of the crashed aircraft also emerged.
During the night of Tuesday, September 8, into Wednesday, September 9, Ukraine’s 414th Separate Unmanned Systems Brigade selected Anapa International Airport in Russia’s Krasnodar Krai as its target. It destroyed a Sukhoi aircraft in the attack. It was most likely an Su-30SM, although other sources suggested it could have been an Su-33, designed for operations from aircraft carriers. The satellite image shows a scorched area, several smaller fragments, and a ground vehicle used to clear away the wreckage. The scene is dominated by a detached wing with distinctive gray-blue camouflage. It is possible that the aircraft had already been damaged during the previous attack on August 23 and that Ukrainian drones finished it off this time.
According to Robert Brovdi, commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, also known by his nickname “Magyar,” an Mi-8 helicopter and two radar systems were also destroyed during the same raid on Anapa.
Another major attack took place in the early hours of Thursday, September 17. This time, the target was an airfield in Rostov, where a large number of Russian transport aircraft were stationed. Local residents reported several large explosions at the airbase, followed by fires. In one section of the airfield, an An-26 aircraft and two Mi-8 helicopters parked close to each other were hit. Elsewhere, an An-12 was struck among several aircraft parked in their designated positions. All four of these aircraft were completely destroyed. Ukrainian sources also reported the destruction of another An-26 and an Mi-8, but satellite imagery did not confirm these additional losses.
Two Su-35 fighter jets in an illustrative photograph from the Russian Ministry of Defense.
Wreckage of one of the two Su-35S fighter jets that collided over Kursk Oblast on September 7.
Russian Air Force Mi-8AMTSh helicopter, registration RF-90301 and tactical number "Blue 72," which crashed on September 2 in Sakhalin Oblast in Russia's Far East.
L-39 Albatros that was hit by a drone at the Yeysk airbase.
Su-24M destroyed at Saki airbase. The second image shows the tactical number "White 49."
Satellite image of a destroyed Sukhoi aircraft (probably an Su-30SM) at Anapa Airport.
The Bomber Crash
The most significant Russian aviation loss occurred toward the end of the period under review, on Tuesday, September 29, in Amur Oblast in Russia’s Far East. A Tu-95MS strategic bomber crashed near Krasnoyarovo, approximately 28 km from the Ukrainka airbase. Shortly after takeoff, three of its four engines failed. The aircraft was being transferred to Olenya airbase near Murmansk. It appears that it was also carrying additional “passengers” during this transfer, since a standard crew consists of six airmen, but eight people aboard this Tu-95MS were killed in the crash. According to Ukrainian sources, those killed included Lieutenant Colonel Fyodor Pavlyukov, Major Andrey Gerasimov, and Major Andrey Lobanov, who were involved in organizing cruise missile strikes against Ukraine.
The engine failures may be related to the extensive wear and tear experienced by Russia’s strategic bombers during the war against Ukraine. Olenya airbase, approximately 1,800 km from the Ukrainian border, was among the targets of Operation Spiderweb last year, during which several Tu-95MS bombers were destroyed. At the time, the Russian Aerospace Forces relocated the remaining bombers to the Far East. They generally return to bases closer to Ukraine only shortly before combat operations. These long-distance flights not only result in significantly greater fuel consumption but also accelerate aircraft wear and tear.
Burning wreckage of the Tu-95MS that crashed in Amur Oblast in Russia's Far East.
Ukrainian Losses
The Ukrainian Air Force also lost three aircraft during the period under review as a result of Russian drone attacks. On Friday, September 4, Kyiv International Airport was targeted. A decommissioned civilian Yak-40 (apparently registered as UR-EEE, according to The Military Watch website) and a helicopter of an unknown type were destroyed there. Russia claims that the helicopter was a UH-60 Black Hawk belonging to the military intelligence agency HUR, but the Ukrainian side has not confirmed the helicopter’s destruction. It may also have been an Airbus H145 helicopter operated by Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, since the strike occurred at a parking stand among civilian aircraft.
A more serious loss occurred on Wednesday, September 9, when a Russian drone destroyed a MiG-29 fighter jet at the Vasylkiv airbase in Kyiv Oblast. The front section of the aircraft’s fuselage was completely blown apart. A fuel tanker truck was parked nearby and was apparently also damaged.
Destroyed Ukrainian MiG-29 at the Vasylkiv airbase in Kyiv Oblast.
Energy, Transportation, and Data
During the period under review, Russia continued to intensify its campaign against Ukrainian cities, particularly Kyiv. The aim is to make these cities uninhabitable before winter and exhaust the civilian population. The Ukrainian capital faced air raids from the very first day of the period under review, as the attacks continued uninterrupted from the preceding period. On Tuesday, September 1, Russian missiles struck a railway depot in Kyiv, killing seven people, six of whom were railway workers. The Russian attack that day claimed a total of twelve lives.
On Sunday, September 13, Russian drones attacked a Ukrainian passenger train just two kilometers from the Polish border. Shortly beforehand, a train carrying European diplomats attending a conference in Kyiv had passed through the same area. It is possible that this was the actual intended target.
On Monday, September 28, Russian drones struck the building of the National Academy of Sciences and a hospital in Kyiv. In addition, Russia began targeting data centers in an attempt to cut Ukraine off from the internet. This later proved to be a major mistake. We are getting slightly ahead of the timeline here, but these attacks effectively alerted Ukrainian forces to a vulnerability of Russia's own. In the following period, Russian data centers also became targets of attacks. The problem is that, in its efforts to bring the internet under state control, Russia concentrated its servers in just a handful of locations. Ukraine's internet infrastructure is much more decentralized, allowing it to cope with outages more effectively, whereas the destruction of data centers poses a major problem for Russia.
Refineries Are Feeling the Impact
Ukraine continued its campaign against Russian logistics and energy infrastructure in Crimea, but focused primarily on Russian oil refineries. This year, Ukrainian drones have attacked refineries more than seventy times (several facilities have been hit repeatedly), and Russian oil processing has fallen to its lowest level in 20 years. Russia is turning from an exporter into an importer and has been forced to import fuel, while diesel and gasoline prices for ordinary consumers continue to rise. Ukraine's General Staff estimated that Russia's oil industry suffered $13.5 billion in damage during the year from August 2025 onward.
Despite the significant impact on the Russian economy—and consequently on its ability to wage war—U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly begun calling on Ukraine to stop attacking Russian refineries. He argues that these attacks are driving up global diesel prices. He seems to overlook the fact that prices surged following his attack on Iran and the subsequent blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly offered to halt attacks on Russian refineries if Moscow stops attacking Ukraine's energy infrastructure. However, Trump is putting no pressure on Russia whatsoever in this regard, directing his demands exclusively at Ukraine.
Operation Vivaldi
Russia has also intensified its air raids because its forces are making virtually no progress on the ground. Thanks in part to Operation Vivaldi near the city of Lyman, Ukrainian forces managed to liberate more territory than Russia succeeded in capturing in other sectors of the front.
Operation Vivaldi was also notable for its innovative use of drones. The Ukrainians converted old Soviet BTR-60 wheeled armored personnel carriers for remote control, filled them with explosives, and used them to breach Russian defensive lines. However, this type of tactic had already been used before.
What was entirely new, however, was the deployment of ground robots behind Russian lines using large aerial drones. These ground drones were armed with grenade launchers. They approached the entrances to bunkers occupied by Russian soldiers and began firing grenades inside. Once their ammunition was exhausted, they entered the bunkers and detonated the explosive charges they were carrying, effectively acting as kamikaze weapons.
F-16s Will Also Arrive from Belgium
Several pieces of good news also concern Ukraine's F-16 fighter jets. Ukraine has been warning for some time that it is facing a shortage of missiles for its air defense systems. As a result, fighter jets are playing an increasingly important role in the country's defense. Their importance has increased even further since the Russians began using jet-powered Geran drones on a larger scale.
In September, Lieutenant General Anatolii Kryvonozhko, commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, informed representatives of Lockheed Martin at a meeting that Ukrainian F-16 pilots had shot down more than 660 cruise missiles and 2,500 unmanned aerial vehicles over the course of two years.
In addition to defending against Russian air raids, Ukrainian F-16 pilots have also carried out more than 650 strikes against enemy ground targets using guided bombs. Their record also includes one officially confirmed shootdown of a Russian Su-35 fighter jet. Ukraine has lost five F-16s in return.
It is estimated that the Ukrainian Air Force currently operates just under 40 F-16s. These aircraft were supplied by Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway. Belgium also pledged to provide fighter jets in 2024, but delayed deliveries until it had received a sufficient number of new F-35 aircraft for its own air force.
Now, however, F-16 deliveries from Belgium are also set to begin. The first seven aircraft are expected to arrive by the end of this year. Three will immediately enter combat service, while four will be used exclusively as sources of spare parts. In total, Belgium will provide Ukraine with 53 F-16 aircraft in several stages, with deliveries scheduled to continue through the end of 2029.
The aircraft currently operated by Ukraine are older but modernized F-16AM Block 15/20 MLU variants. Lieutenant General Kryvonozhko and representatives of Lockheed Martin discussed possibilities for increasing the combat capabilities of these aircraft.
In the future, Ukraine could also receive the latest F-16C Block 70/72 variants. In this case, however, these aircraft would probably be intended more for rebuilding and modernizing the Ukrainian Air Force after the war, similar to the JAS 39 E/F Gripen and Rafale aircraft.
Belgium will begin delivering F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine later this year.
The Ukrainian Air Force currently operates just under 40 F-16 aircraft.
Innovations in the fight against Russian drones – launching interceptor drones from a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter.