Automated gun turrets now serve in Ukraine’s Air Force and are destroying Russia’s jet-powered weapons, the Defense Ministry reported on 29 October. It gave no count for those jet kills, and it did not say what type of drones the turrets downed over Kyiv.
Jet drones are where Ukraine struggles most. From 1 to 26 September, Ukraine downed 55% of jet-powered drones against 90% of slower ones, partly because its interceptor drones fly at about 300 km/h, too slow to catch them. Yurii Cherevashenko, Deputy Commander of the Air Force, told a parliamentary inquiry commission on 6 October that jet-drone interceptors would arrive in the needed numbers no earlier than late November. Guns have limits too. On 5 October, Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said turrets had already downed Geran-5s, but that their range is short because their main weapon is a machine gun.
According to the ministry, Brave1, a defense innovation cluster, began developing automated turrets in 2024. The systems have since “moved beyond the experimental stage and become an integral part of air defense,” it said. In Air Force service, the turrets are destroying jet-powered Banderol munitions and Geran-5 drones.
Russia first used the Geran-5, a 6-meter jet-powered strike drone, in early 2026. The Banderol, a jet-powered cruise missile, flies at 520–560 km/h and can reach 650 km/h.
Separately, the ministry said turrets have destroyed more than 60 targets within the private air defense project. The project lets companies form anti-drone teams that work under Air Force command.
Yet on 14 October, the ministry gave the same 60-plus total for all private teams. At the time, it named interceptor drones and heavy machine-gun turrets as their main weapons. Groups from six companies were on combat duty, about 50 groups had been formed in total, and some were still training. Nearly 100 companies had joined by then, up from 81 in mid-September.
The ministry says the project expands air defense “without placing an additional burden” on the military’s own air defense. It and Brave1 say they will keep integrating automated turrets into the air defense system.
Another of Russia's Su-57 stealth fighters has burned out on the ground, Ukrainian military news outlet Militarnyi reported. A Ukrainian Telegram channel blamed an engine start gone wrong and published satellite images of the scorched airfield.
Russia's war against Ukraine leans on warplanes that strike from standoff range, and Ukraine has spent this year hunting them on their airfields. Its newest fighter is a rare sight in that fleet: Ukrainian intelligence estimated Russia had about 20 Su-57s, against 135–140 Su-35S and 140–145 Su-30 jets, and could not tell how fast more are built.
The fire broke out at the Akhtubinsk airfield in Russia's Astrakhan Oblast on 29 October. The Ukrainian Telegram channel Absolutely Reliable Source said the multirole fighter caught fire during a malfunction at engine start. It said the jet burned out completely. Militarnyi called the cause preliminary.
The channel's satellite images show a dark scorch mark and debris on open ground between the airfield's taxiways.
Akhtubinsk has seen Su-57s hit before. Ukrainian drones first damaged Su-57s there in June 2024, and Ukrainian intelligence said two were likely hit.
Militarnyi counted the fire as the fourth time a Su-57 was hit or lost in 2026. Ukraine's General Staff said drones hit several Su-57s and a Su-34 at the Shagol airfield in Chelyabinsk Oblast on 25 April. Ukrainian intelligence later said the state of those jets was unknown.
On 23 July, a Su-57 crashed in Moscow Oblast. A Russian Telegram channel said Russia's own air defenders shot it down.
Russia's air force received two new Su-57s in September, its second batch this year, Militarnyi reported.
Ukraine keeps hitting Russian warplanes on the ground. On 29 October, Ukraine's Navy said its Neptune missiles destroyed two Su-34s at the Marinovka airfield in Volgograd Oblast. Two weeks earlier, it reported hitting six Su-34s at Borisoglebsk in Voronezh Oblast. Russia uses those bombers to drop glide bombs on Ukrainian towns.
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