The Security Service of Ukraine has successfully destroyed two light Yak-52 aircraft that russian occupiers were reportedly using to intercept Ukrainian long-range strike drones. Special operators from the A Center for Special Operations carried out the strikes on aircraft that had been deployed to forward airfields and employed in attempts to down Ukrainian deep-strike unmanned systems.
The operation follows months in which russian forces improvised with light aviation platforms to blunt Ukraine's drone campaign. A recent russian propaganda video inadvertently revealed one such Yak-52, serial RA-1874G, and allowed open-source analysts to geolocate its base at the private Korsak airfield near Pryazovske, roughly 20 km southeast of temporarily occupied Melitopol. Satellite imagery compared across 2020 and late August–early September 2025 showed runway resurfacing and minor construction, indicating renewed activity at the site.
Read more: Moscow's Innovation Backfires: Propaganda Footage Reveals Secret Yak-52 Base
The destruction of the Yak-52 systems has immediate tactical value. By denying the occupiers airborne platforms tailored to intercept long-range Ukrainian drones, Kyiv reduces the risk to its strike assets and helps preserve the tempo of deep-strike operations that target command nodes, logistics, and industrial sites behind russian lines.
Beyond the tactical effects, the episode underscores the intelligence value of open-source and media exploitation. Russian state media intended to showcase capability but instead leaked identifying details, distinctive infrastructure, runway resurfacing timestamps, and serial numbers, that enabled analysts to map and monitor emergent threats.
That kind of inadvertent disclosure can yield precise targeting leads for Ukrainian special operations and intelligence services.
As Defense Express previously reported, russian developers have produced a new electronic-warfare system called Multik, designed to detect and suppress video links from FPV drones and to be mounted on helicopters and other vehicles. The device, reported to be developed by the Gradient Research Institute, reportedly exists in hardware form and has already undergone airborne trials, according to published photos and technical summaries.
Read more: russia Mounts Its New Multik Jammer on Helicopters After the Mi-8 Losses
