Ukraine loses another MiG-29 and its pilot, fighter fleet shrinks back to pre-war size

Ukraine lost another MiG-29 fighter jet and its pilot on Thursday, as 25-year-old Capt. Marat Mambetov ejected after a Russian missile struck his aircraft during a strike mission but did not survive.

The loss was the 37th confirmed MiG-29 lost by Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion began in February 2022. It leaves Ukraine with a fleet of roughly three dozen of the jets, a number close to what the country had before the invasion.

A shrinking fleet

The MiG-29 is one of Ukraine's core fighter jet types, used both to defend cities and infrastructure from aerial attack and to carry out strike missions against Russian forces. Each aircraft lost reduces Ukraine's capacity to cover its airspace, while replacing them is extremely difficult since MiG-29s are no longer produced in quantities that could make up for combat losses.

As a result, nearly four years into the full-scale war, the size of Ukraine's MiG-29 fleet has fallen back close to its pre-invasion level, even though the country has also received other Western-made aircraft types during the conflict.