Putin 'Furious' Over Strike on Russia's State-of-the-Art Jet: Kyiv Intel

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been left angered over a drone strike on an airfield that may have hit two of Moscow's advanced Su-57 fighter aircraft, a Ukrainian intelligence spokesperson said.

Andriy Yusov, spokesperson for the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine (HUR), made the assessment on national television. His comments came after the agency said on June 9 that two Russian Su-57 fighter jets may have been damaged in an attack on the Akhtubinsk airfield in the southern Russian republic of Astrakhan—some 365 miles from the current front lines in eastern Ukraine.

"This is big news: Putin is really furious, and the reaction in the Kremlin is very hot and palpable," he said on June 10, as reported by Ukrainian media. "Because they tried to carefully hide and protect the Su-57s. And these Su-57s never entered Ukrainian airspace because they were afraid of being shot down. But they failed."

The operation dealt "a serious blow to the enemy's capabilities" as Russia produces the advanced twin-engine stealth jets in limited numbers, and has only a handful in operation, he said.

Yusov added: "They were used to launch missile attacks on Ukrainian civilian objects, on our infrastructure. So the punishment was well deserved."

Newsweek has contacted Russia's Defense Ministry for comment by email.

In another update on Wednesday, Yusov said the HUR can confirm that one one Su-57 "suffered significant damage, and the other one suffered lighter damage and may be possible to restore."

Justin Bronk, senior research fellow at the London-based Royal United Services Institute think tank, said in an analysis on June 10 that Ukraine's apparent success in damaging a Su-57 aircraft is a "substantial blow to Russia's long-troubled stealth fighter fleet."

It marks "another Illustration of Ukraine's most effective option for countering increasingly effective Russian air attacks on the frontlines," he said.

"Even the temporary loss of one Su-57 airframe in this Ukrainian strike likely represents at least a 5 percent cut in the frontline fleet of Russia's most advanced fighter aircraft," Bronk added. "It is also a significant symbolic blow to an already long-troubled aircraft program that is a centerpiece of Russian military pride."

In April, General Christopher Cavoli, the head of the U.S. European Command, told American lawmakers that Russia had lost around 10 percent of its aircraft fleet since Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

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