Ukraine just destroyed six of Russia's bomber jets deep inside its own territory

Ukraine's navy says it just destroyed six Russian fighter-bombers.

In one strike. Deep inside Russia.

So here's what happened. Overnight, Ukraine's navy says it fired Neptune missiles at Borisoglebsk airfield in Russia's Voronezh region. That's about 300 to 350 kilometres from the Ukrainian border.

The target was six Su-34M jets. Russia's main glide-bomb aircraft.

The navy says quote "used a Neptune coastal defence missile system to strike the Borisoglebsk military airfield".

It says the jets were hit. Ground equipment was destroyed too. And there were secondary explosions and a fire across the airfield.

But here's the thing. Nobody agrees on how many were actually destroyed.

The navy's own statement says the six jets were hit. It doesn't say all six were destroyed.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave a different number. He says four were destroyed and two more were hit.

Then a satellite imagery analysis from the outlet Defence Blog gave a third version. Four destroyed. Two badly damaged.

So that's three Ukrainian-aligned accounts. Three different breakdowns. All agreeing on one thing: several Su-34Ms got hit, some probably destroyed, and nobody has the exact number.

Why does this aircraft matter so much?

The Su-34M is a modernised version of Russia's main all-weather fighter-bomber. Russia uses it to drop guided glide bombs on Ukrainian towns and positions near the front line.

The navy explains it plainly. It says quote "one of the key aircraft used by the Russian Air Force to launch guided aerial bomb strikes".

Fewer of these jets in the air means fewer glide bombs landing on Ukrainian towns. At least for a while.

And this isn't a small base either.

The Ukrainian outlet Militarnyi reports the base hosts the 783rd training aviation centre. One of Russia's main schools for strike and bomber pilots. It also houses units flying Su-34, Su-35S and Su-30SM jets.