Russian Air Force An-26 Destroyed

Two An-26 light transports were destroyed alongside an An-12 when Ukrainian Security Service drones hit the Rostov-on-Don Tsentralny military airfield overnight into 17 September, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky and the service itself, which described a fire in the aircraft parking area followed by secondary detonations. The Institute for the Study of War logged the claim and pointed to geolocated footage of a large explosion at the base, while the Rostov governor confirmed only a fire started by drone debris. Open-source analysts published satellite imagery and ground photographs of burnt-out airframes; the tally remains a Ukrainian claim that Russia has not addressed.