Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian President, shared black and white footage purporting to show a first-person-view drone hurtling towards the Beriev Be-200 parked on a military airfield. Photo / @ZelenskyyUa / X
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian President, shared black and white footage purporting to show a first-person-view drone hurtling towards the Beriev Be-200 parked on a military airfield. Photo / @ZelenskyyUa / X
Ukraine said it destroyed a rare Russian amphibious aircraft in a drone strike deep behind enemy lines.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian President, posted black and white footage purporting to show a first-person-view drone hurtling towards the Beriev Be-200 parked on a military airfield.
A second drone then captures what appearsto be the aircraft engulfed in flames.
Our long-range sanctions this week. Most of the operations are still ongoing, so the video captures only a portion of our results. Be-200 amphibious aircraft, a Ka-27 helicopter, a cargo vessel carrying ammunition, a Pantsir-S1 surface‑to‑air missile and gun system, a Tor… pic.twitter.com/kX3oPCuok8
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) May 16, 2026
Zelenskyy said the strike was part of a series of “long-range sanctions” carried out on military targets in response to a string of deadly Russian missile and drone attacks this week.
A cargo vessel carrying ammunition, several air-defence systems, a training centre and oil facilities were among the targets hit in both occupied territory and inside Russia.
“Distances traversed: nearly 1000 kilometres from the line of contact,” the Ukrainian President wrote on social media.
“These are our entirely justified responses to what the Russians are doing. We will continue to increase both the range and scale of these sanctions.”
After the attacks, satellite imagery taken above the Yeysk military airfield, on the Azov Sea coast, appeared to confirm the destruction of the Be-200 aircraft.
The Russian plane goes up in flames after apparently being struck by Ukrainian drones. Photo / @ZelenskyyUa / X
The Telegraph could not independently verify the claimed successes of the strikes.
The loss of the amphibious aircraft, believed to cost US$40 million ($68m), will be seen as significant because just 20 were reportedly ever built since they were first flown in 1998.
The twin-jet water bomber is capable of landing and taking off from both conventional runways and water.
It is primarily designed to scoop up 12 tonnes of water to be poured on forest fires.
But the aircraft can also carry out search-and-rescue missions, maritime reconnaissance and haul heavy equipment to hard-to-reach locations.
In January, Italian Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets were sent to intercept a Be-200 after it breached Nato airspace over the Baltic Sea.
The latest string of strikes by Ukraine’s unmanned systems forces demonstrate their ever-improving ability to extract a cost for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s refusal to end his long-running war.
Earlier this week, Russia pummelled Kyiv with hundreds of missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), killing at least 24 people in what was the largest single drone attack of the conflict.
The barrage suggested Putin had no appetite to bring an end to his invasion despite his claims it was “coming to a close”.
Russian forces often turn to devastating long-range attacks on civilian targets in response to their own struggles on the battlefield.
Last week, Putin was forced to hold a scaled-back military parade for the annual commemoration of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany.
In the past, the parade would involve tanks and nuclear launchers rolling across Moscow’s Red Square, but this year the Russian President had to beg for a temporary ceasefire to prevent Ukraine from striking the capital.
Zelenskyy had repeatedly rejected Putin’s appeals for a truce, but the Ukrainian eventually relented after United States President Donald Trump was brought in to mediate a brief pause to the hostilities.
