File image.
A Ukrainian pilot was killed on October 1 after his MiG-29 fighter jet was hit by a Russian missile during a combat mission over eastern Ukraine, the country’s air force announced.
The pilot, Capt. Marat Redvanovych Mambetov, ejected from the fighter jet but did not survive, the air force said, noting that Mambetov was 25 and served as a flight commander with the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade, known as the “Ghost of Kyiv” based at Vasylkiv Air Base in the Kyiv region.
According to the air force, Mambetov had been carrying out missile and bomb strikes against Russian forces when the fighter jet was hit.
Ukraine had about 40 MiG-29A, MiG-29S, MiG-29MU1 and MiG-29MU2 jets in service before the start of the Russian special military operation. A year into the fighting, Ukraine received more than two dozen MiG-29G and MiG-29AS jets from Poland and Slovakia. It also took over several Azerbaijani MiG-29A 9.13 jets that had been sent for maintenance before the war started.
Ukraine has lost at least 56 MiG-29s, including four described as “damaged,” since the start of the Russian special military operation, according to a Wikipedia list of aviation shootdowns and accidents that is based on visual evidence or official confirmation.
That tally does not include the latest reported aerial loss, but suggests the Ukrainian air force has lost nearly all of its MiG-29s.
The Ukrainian air force didn’t provide much detail on its latest aerial loss. However, most of the country’s recent aerial losses were caused by Russian S-400 long-range air defense systems or R-37M long-range air-to-air missiles, typically launched from MiG-31, Su-35 or Su-57 fighter jets.
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