Ukraine’s air force shared a video on Friday showing one of its Soviet-era fighter jets using American-made glide bombs to strike key bridges in Russia’s embattled Kursk region.
The footage underscores Ukraine’s ability to use airpower to support its ground forces as they continue their shock invasion of Kursk. Kyiv has struggled to pull off combined-arms operations like these in other sectors of the front line.
In a post on the Telegram messaging app, Ukraine’s air force published footage of a MiG-29 aircraft using GBU-62 JDAM-ER bombs to strike bridges in Kursk.
The US-made Joint Direct Attack Munition-Extended Range is a bomb equipped with a guidance kit that turns unguided munitions into air-launched precision weapons that can then be released at range.
The US has not disclosed how many of these munitions it has delivered to Ukraine.
The Russian military has extensively used similar munitions, also known as guided glide bombs, to carry out devastating strikes targeting Ukrainian troop positions and civil infrastructure. Among the bombs in Moscow’s arsenal is one that weighs more than 6,000 pounds.
The video shared by the air force on Friday shows Ukrainian military personnel loading the US-made bombs onto a MiG-29, a twin-engine multi-role fighter that has been in service for decades. That footage is then followed by video footage of airstrikes on bridges in Kursk.
Targeting the bridges appears to be an attempt by Ukraine to disrupt Russian logistics and supply lines as Moscow directs more resources to the Kursk region.
Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said earlier this week that Kyiv had taken control of some 1,294 square kilometers (roughly 500 square miles) of Russian territory and 100 settlements inside that area since the cross-border incursion began a little over three weeks ago.
Syrskyi said Russia, in response, has redirected around 30,000 troops to Kursk, with more on the way. US officials have confirmed that Moscow has indeed moved some forces there, although they have not provided specific figures.
Despite the recent success of Ukrainian airpower in Kursk, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday said he had decided to replace the commander of Kyiv’s air force, Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleschuk.
The leadership shuffle comes several days after a Ukrainian F-16 fighter jet crashed while repelling a massive Russian aerial bombardment, killing a top pilot.
The cause of the incident is under investigation. Just hours before he was dismissed, Oleschuk sought to assure critics that the air force would figure out what caused the data incident.
Ukraine only has a small number of F-16s that it received from NATO countries just a few weeks ago, and the loss of one — and its pilot — is a significant manpower, equipment, and morale blow to Kyiv.
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