Ukraine hits six Russian Su-34 jets at Voronezh airfield in Neptune missile strike

Ukrainian naval forces launched a long-range missile strike on the Borisoglebsk military airfield in southwestern Russia's Voronezh region, targeting six Russian Su-34 fighter-bombers.

The Ukrainian Navy said the overnight attack destroyed the aircraft using a Long Neptune coastal missile system. The strike triggered secondary blasts and fires while damaging ground equipment used to support flight operations. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later stated that four Su-34 jets were destroyed outright and two others were hit while armed with aerial bombs.

Russian authorities did not acknowledge any direct hit on the airfield, which lies roughly 6 kilometres east of Borisoglebsk. Voronezh Governor Alexander Gusev said regional air defences shot down 33 drones and several "jet-powered aerial targets", adding that falling fragments damaged a car and residential outbuildings in the city of Voronezh. Borisoglebsk residents reported loud explosions and heavy smoke rising from the direction of the base.

Russia deploys Su-34 and modernized Su-34M twin-engine aircraft to drop guided glide bombs across front lines and civilian centres. The attack marks another push by Kyiv to target Russian aviation infrastructure deep behind the borders.

Tankers burn in the Black Sea

The strikes inside Russia coincided with heightened maritime hazards across the Black Sea, where Romanian search teams looked for eight missing crew members after two commercial chemical tankers caught fire near the Danube delta.

Both vessels were anchored near the mouth of the Sulina Canal inside Romanian territorial waters, waiting to transit the waterway amid weather delays and traffic backlogs. The corridor has handled a heavy share of regional grain and fuel shipments since naval warfare constricted deeper Black Sea routes.

Romania's naval authority said it received an emergency beacon from the Wine Trader after fire broke out onboard. Rescuers brought four crew members to safety, while eight remained unaccounted for. Fires also broke out aboard the Comoros-flagged Yara J, though its entire crew was evacuated unharmed.

Romanian officials did not directly tie the tanker fires to military strikes, though Russian drones reportedly entered Romanian airspace during the same period. The incidents follow attacks on at least five other cargo ships off Romania and Bulgaria over the previous ten days, which left at least 23 sailors lost outside NATO waters.