-c439b7bd9030ecf9d5a4287dc361ba31.jpg "Photo of Katherina Popilnichenko")
Russian military bloggers have reported the loss of another Su-34 fighter-bomber. The information about the loss of the Su-34 by the Russian Armed Forces was shared by the Russian Telegram channel Fighterbomber.
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The post did not include specific details about the location or cause of the incident. However, the message included the phrase "Eternal flight, brother," which suggests that the pilot did not survive the event.
The Lipetsk Air Base in Russia was identified as a major hub for decommissioned and stored military aircraft, with open-source satellite imagery from February 2026 revealing nearly 100 jets parked at the facility.
This concentration included a significant number of Su-34 fighter-bombers and Su-35S fighters, which formed the backbone of Russia’s tactical aviation during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Su-34 served as the primary platform for launching guided glide bombs, while the Su-35S was utilized for air superiority and escort missions to protect these strike packages.
Because Russia had originally deployed only around 70 Su-34s for the war, the accumulation of aircraft at Lipetsk underscored the operational strain on the fleet, as even small numbers of losses or maintenance delays became increasingly difficult for the Russian military to manage.
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