Ukraine struck deep inside Russia on the morning of 24 July 2026, hitting a defense plant in the city of Kirov with a Flamingo cruise missile, according to monitoring channels. The target builds ejection seats for Russia's fighter jets, along with anti-aircraft missiles and other aviation gear. The Ukrainian company that makes the Flamingo indirectly confirmed the strike.

A Flamingo missile hits Kirov

Ukraine's Defense Forces struck the Avitek plant in Kirov on the morning of 24 July, some 1,200 km from Ukraine. Residents woke to explosions and a fire, Russian news Telegram channel Astra reported. Monitoring Telegram channel Exilenova+ published videos of a thick black column of smoke rising over the city, and wrote that a missile may have hit the plant. 

Astra, citing open-source analysts, identified the burning site as Avitek, and Russians filming the strike said the hit landed on the factory. 

Fire Point confirms the strike

Denys Shtilierman, co-owner and chief designer of Ukrainian missile maker Fire Point, confirmed the strike on X, posting a flamingo emoji beside a cited tweet. 

He later posted footage of the launch. 

Monitoring channels noted that the missile hit one of the plant's central buildings.

What the Avitek plant makes

Avitek — formally the Vyatka Machine-Building Enterprise — belongs to Russia's Almaz-Antey air-defense concern, according to tracker OSINT Varta. It is the country's only serial producer of ejection seats for every fighter and attack aircraft in Russia's fleet. The plant also turns out anti-aircraft guided missiles, target missiles, and air-target simulators, plus winches and beam holders for warplanes.

The works supplies engines for Tor air-defense systems and parts for the Kh-101 and Kh-59 missiles that Russia fires at Ukrainian cities. It also builds, repairs, and modernizes the K-36DM ejection seats used in the Su-34 and Su-57 jets. Ukraine's military intelligence project War & Sanctions lists Avitek as a maker of surface-to-air missiles tied to Tor production. 

Where the Flamingo has struck before

Ukraine's Flamingo campaign has widened through the summer. 

• On 27 June, the missile destroyed parts of two buildings at the Titan-Barrikady plant in Volgograd, a launcher maker inside Russia's Roscosmos space corporation, after at least five Flamingos struck the site that day. 

• On 10 June, the missiles hit the VNIIR-Progress plant in Cheboksary, which makes satellite-navigation antennas for the Russian army.

• On 1 July, drones hit the Mayak plant and a physical-measurements institute in Penza, both involved in equipping the Su-57. 

• The day before the Kirov strike, one of Russia's Su-57 stealth fighters crashed near Moscow, possibly downed by its own side's air defenses.

A Russian military jet — reported to be the newest Su-57, the country's only operational stealth fighter — crashed in Moscow Oblast on 23 July, Russian and Ukrainian channels reported. The pilot ejected and survived, and officials reported no casualties on the ground. Russia's own pro-war blogger pointed the finger at Russia's air defense.

What is known about the crash

The jet went down around 13:50 in the Odintsovo district near Zvenigorod, west of Moscow. Russian outlet REN TV reported the crash, and local channel Zven_Info published photos of a fire in a field near homes. Russian Telegram channel Mash said the aircraft was a Su-57 on a training flight and that the pilot ejected.

Russia's Defense Ministry, through state news agency TASS, said a combat-trainer crashed during takeoff, that the pilot ejected, and that there was no destruction on the ground. Officials did not confirm the aircraft type or the cause.

Russia's own bloggers point at Moscow's air defense

Russia's bloggers went further than the officials. Milblogger Romanov wrote that "a number of questions" should go to the crew of BARS-Moskva, a mobile air-defense group guarding the capital. Another Russian channel, arrowsmap, said the jet's own air-defense crew shot it down and asked whether a shoulder-fired missile had felled a fifth-generation fighter.

Those bloggers also warned that pulling such crews back would leave Moscow's skies open to Ukrainian drones. Ukraine had no role in the loss, and none of the friendly-fire claims carried official confirmation.

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The Su-57, and how often it meets trouble

The Su-57 is Russia's most advanced fighter, built by Sukhoi and first flown in 2010. Russia took its first serial jet into service in 2020, in small numbers. The type has a rough record: one of the first serial aircraft crashed in Khabarovsk Krai in December 2019, before the military even received it.

Ukrainian drones first damaged two Su-57s at the Akhtubinsk airbase in June 2024. In spring 2026, drones reached more of them at Shagol near the Urals, where Russian unit-cost estimates run to $100–120 million each. Russia has since kept the jet away from missions over Ukraine.

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Friendly fire

More often than not, Russian air defenders are yet another threat to their own pilots. 

Russia's air defenses shot down their own Su-27 over occupied Crimea in March 2024, killed a Su-35 pilot with an S-300 over occupied Tokmak in 2023, and opened fire on one of their own helicopters near Moscow in 2025 after mistaking it for a drone. 

Poor coordination between Russian aviation and its air-defense crews has cost Moscow its own aircraft again and again. Losing a scarce fifth-generation jet the same way would say more about the air defense meant to shield Moscow than about anything Ukraine did that day.