British intelligence is convinced that the Russian Aerospace Forces use 5 units of the latest Su-57 fighter jets to carry out missile strikes on the territory of Ukraine, topwar.ru reports. According to British intelligence, the first cases of the use of the Su-57 for attacks against Ukrainian targets date back to June 2022. But until now, Russia has been afraid to send Su-57 fighter jets into Ukrainian airspace lest they be shot down by Ukrainian air defenses, British intelligence officials say. Hence, they are said to be based about 500 km from Ukraine. However, it is not very clear what is new in this information of British intelligence, which was disseminated today by the Ukrainian press, tipwar.ru writes.
In May 2022, Russian sources claimed that Su-57 fighters were used two or three weeks after the start of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, striking targets with missiles outside of the zone of activity of Ukrainian air defenses, just like other Russian aircraft that are also restricted mainly to Russian airspace. In June 2022, RIA Novosti reported four Su-57s working in a network were used in the SEAD role over Ukraine to identify and destroy Ukrainian air defense systems. The source also noted that its low radar visibility was demonstrated in combat.
On 19 October 2022, Russian army general Sergey Surovikin, commander of all Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine, stated the Su-57 has been used both in the air-to-air and air-to-ground roles during the war in Ukraine and that it has scored kills in both roles. Subsequently, some Russian sources claimed the Su-57 shot down a Ukrainian Su-27 with a long-range R-37 missile. However, no evidence for these claims has surfaced.