The Ukrainian Air Force has lost another MiG-29 fighter jet after a missile strike during a combat mission on one of the front lines, killing the pilot, Captain Marat Mambetov. The 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade flight commander, known as part of the “Ghost of Kyiv”, ejected from the aircraft but did not survive.
The aircraft was carrying out missile and bomb strikes against Russian forces when it was hit. The exact front sector was not disclosed. The loss comes at a difficult time for Ukraine’s Soviet-era fighter fleet, which remains limited and ageing after years of attrition and battlefield wear.
Reports on the incident also pointed to earlier MiG-29 losses in June and August, underlining the pressure on Ukraine’s air force inventory. By the end of 2025, Ukraine was believed to have only about 14 MiG-29s left, leaving each combat loss to erode an already scarce pool of frontline airpower.