Satellite photos confirm Ukraine destroyed two Russian Su-34s

Satellite imagery shows the wreckage of two Su-34 fighter-bombers destroyed at Russia’s Marinovka air base in the Volgograd region, confirming Ukraine’s claim that its Neptune cruise missiles knocked out the jets on Oct. 29, open-source analysts said.

The open-source monitoring group CyberBoroshno said the post-strike image shows the effects of hits in two parking spaces where Su-34s were stationed, with the remains of the aircraft visible. It compared the image with a Sentinel satellite picture taken on Oct. 28, which shows a Su-34 standing at the same spot, a sign the location was the aircraft’s regular parking position.

“This confirms that the strike hit the places where the aircraft were based, not random points on the airfield,” CyberBoroshno said.

The Russian aviation-focused account Avivector also published satellite frames showing the destroyed aircraft, writing that the Ukrainian Navy’s Oct. 29 strike on Marinovka “destroyed two Su-34 fighter-bombers.” Russia has not publicly confirmed any losses at the base.

The Ukrainian Navy said on Oct. 29 that its units hit the base near the settlement of Oktyabrsky with a coastal Neptune missile system, in what it called a “Long Neptune” strike, the extended-range land-attack version of the Ukrainian-made cruise missile. The Navy said the two Su-34s belonged to the 11th Mixed Aviation Regiment of Russia’s 4th Air and Air Defense Forces Army, Ukrainska Pravda reported. President Volodymyr Zelensky later confirmed the result. NASA’s FIRMS satellite fire-detection system picked up a fire at the airfield on the night of the attack, and the base lies more than 400 km (250 miles) from Ukrainian-controlled territory.

The Su-34 is the main aircraft Russia uses to drop glide bombs, known in Ukraine as KABs, on Ukrainian cities, frontline positions and the troops holding them. Each jet can carry up to 8 metric tons of weapons. Russia had about 140 Su-34s in service as of Oct. 22, Ukrinform reported, and Ukraine’s military intelligence agency HUR has estimated that Russian industry can build only 14 to 18 of the aircraft a year.

Marinovka has been hit before. In June 2025, Ukrainian drones struck the base, and Ukraine’s General Staff said four Su-34s and a maintenance area were hit, with a Russian air force-linked Telegram channel later acknowledging losses. Earlier this month, on Oct. 15, Ukraine said Neptune missiles struck Su-34s at Borisoglebsk airfield in the Voronezh region, and satellite imagery of that base also showed destruction.

Ukraine has not said how many Neptune missiles it fired at Marinovka or whether other aircraft at the base were damaged in the strike.