Ukraine’s military intelligence shared thermal imaging video from an overnight strike on June 25-26, 2026, at the Belbek airfield near Sevastopol in occupied Crimea. The footage shows a drone hitting the MiG-29 fighter jet and a nearby launch vehicle, with HUR estimating Russian losses in the tens of millions of dollars.
This precision operation by HUR’s Unmanned Systems Department is part of Ukraine’s ongoing drone campaign to weaken Russian air power in the Black Sea region, where Belbek hosts a key fighter regiment repeatedly targeted since 2022. While independent satellite confirmation is pending and Russia has not responded, analysts like Rob Lee shared the video without dispute.
A Russian MiG-29 fighter jet was destroyed during a Ukrainian military intelligence drone strike on the Belbek airbase in temporarily occupied Crimea on the night of June 26, according to theMain Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry (HUR).
“On the night of June 25-26, 2026, operators from the HUR Department of Unmanned Systems struck the Belbek airbase in temporarily occupied Crimea. As a result of the operation, a Russian MiG-29 fighter jet was destroyed,” the statement said.
With a single strike, HUR special forces also destroyed an airfield launch unit that was servicing a Russian combat aircraft at the moment it was hit.
Russia’s estimated losses from the attack amount to tens of millions of dollars. As previously reported, on the night of July 1, drones operated by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) struck hangars housing Russian fighter jets at the Saky military airbase in occupied Crimea.
Five successful drone strikes on hangars storing military aircraft have been confirmed.
According to preliminary information, two of the hangars contained Su-30 and Su-30SM fighter jets at the time of the attack. A fire broke out in the hangar housing a Su-30SM after the strike, indicating the target was successfully hit.
On July 3, SBU drones struck fighter jets at the Saky airbase for the second time in a week and also targeted hangars at the Hvardiiske airbase in occupied Crimea.
At the Saky airbase, seven aircraft hangars were hit. They housed Su-30SM, Su-30, and Su-24 fighter jets and frontline bombers. According to preliminary information, at least seven aircraft were destroyed or damaged.
Ukraine Drones Hit St. Petersburg Oil Terminal and Naval Base
The strikes targeted the St. Petersburg Oil Terminal in Russia’s Leningrad region, about 850 kilometers from Ukraine, and the Kronstadt naval base housing parts of the Baltic Fleet. President Zelenskyy called them ‘long-range sanctions’ against war-funding assets, with videos showing ongoing explosions and plumes of smoke. Russian defenses downed 72 drones and reported minor damage, while the fires disrupted a major export hub amid Moscow’s fuel shortages—no casualties were noted.
Ukraine has struck a major oil terminal in Russia’s second city of St Petersburg and other targets in the country’s north-west.
In a post on social media, President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote: “Ukraine’s defence forces struck port oil infrastructure that generates revenue for Russia’s war.” He also said an “important military target” was hit overnight in Kronstadt, a nearby naval base.
St Petersburg Governor Aleksandr Beglov said the city was under a “massive” drone attack, admitting the oil terminal was hit. He reported no casualties.
Ukraine has in recent months intensified its long-range drone attacks on Russia’s critical energy infrastructure, causing fuel shortages in a number of regions.
In his post on Saturday morning, Zelensky said the targets hit in St Petersburg and the surrounding region were about 850km (528 miles) from Ukraine’s border.
The extent of the damage was not immediately clear, but a video posted by the Ukrainian president showed a drone flying towards a target and a huge column of black smoke billowing from the area after the strike.
The BBC later verified that St Petersburg’s oil terminal was hit.
Ukraine’s military described the terminal as “one of the largest” in Russia, capable of producing 12.5 million tonnes of petroleum products per year.
The military also said a key naval base of the Russian Baltic Fleet in Kronstadt was hit.
Russia has not publicly commented on the claim.
Writing on Telegram, Governor Beglov said that 72 Ukrainian drones were shot down over St Petersburg and the wider Leningrad region.
He urged city residents to stay indoors until the drone threat was lifted. Mobile internet services may also be disrupted, he warned.
More than five million people live in St Petersburg.
In a separate development on Saturday, Ukraine’s military denied that the key eastern Ukrainian town of Kostyantynivka was now under full Russian control.
Military spokesman Maj Andriy Kovalyov told the BBC that “Kostyantynivka remains under the control of the Defence Forces of Ukraine”.
He admitted that there were “cases of infiltration by small infantry groups deep into the combat formations of our forces”, but added that those groups were being identified and destroyed.
His comments came a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russian control had been established over the town of Kostyantynivka in June.
Putin provided no evidence to back his claim.
Later on Saturday, Zelensky wrote on Telegram: “If Kostyantynivka is now under Russian control, then Putin will probably have no problem meeting me there and finding diplomatic solutions to finally end the war. But still, he will not cross the front line: the truth is very different from Putin’s words.”
Kostyantynivka is one of several heavily-fortified towns that make up Ukraine’s “fortress belt” in the Donetsk region, most of which is occupied by Russia.
President Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and Moscow currently controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory.
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