Ukrainian Su-24M Bomber Crashes on Mission in Khmelnytskyi, Two Crew Members Killed

A Su-24M frontline bomber belonging to the 7th Tactical Aviation Brigade named after Petro Franko of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine crashed around 7:00 PM on June 16.

The aircraft was performing a mission in the Khmelnytskyi region at the time of the accident, according to the Air Force Command of Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Both crew members on board, the pilot and the navigator, were killed in the crash. The military has identified the deceased as Major Bohdan Hryhorovych Zaharulko and Senior Lieutenant Bohdan Oleksandrovych Babenko.

"We express our deepest condolences to the families of Major Bohdan Hryhorovych Zaharulko and Senior Lieutenant Bohdan Oleksandrovych Babenko, they defended our country until their last breath," the Air Force Command of Ukrainian Armed Forces stated.

Emergency services and law enforcement officials are currently working at the crash site. According to preliminary information, there were no injuries among the civilian population.

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War in Ukraine

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The specific causes and circumstances surrounding the incident are currently being investigated.

On May 6, 2026, Ukrainian military pilots underwent specialized training to operate without reliable GPS navigation as Russian electronic warfare systems persistently disrupted signals across the battlefield.

This shift reflected a new reality of modern warfare, where flying without stable satellite navigation transitioned from an emergency scenario into a standard combat condition.

During training programs organized with support from the Royal Air Force, pilots learned to navigate using terrain features such as rivers, roads, and landscape contours instead of relying entirely on digital systems.

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