L-39 crash reveals deployment of Russian-speakers to eastern DRC

Vantor imagery showing military aircraft at Kalemie Airport in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (Satellite image © 2026 Vantor/© 2026 Janes)

Videos showing Russian-speakers recovering a crashed L-39 jet dovetail with the deployment of the same type of aircraft to Kalemie on the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC's) side of Lake Tanganyika.

Two videos began circulating on social media channels on or before 15 June, one showing a white man sitting on top of a small aircraft that had crashed into a swamp. He was wearing what appeared to be a telnyashka, the stripey undershirt that is an iconic part of Russian military dress. African locals passed him a rope before he spoke in Russian with other men who were out of shot.

The second video shows a white Mi-26 helicopter lifting the aircraft out of the swamp, enabling it to be identified as an L-39, which is widely used in both the trainer and light attack roles, but was not known to be in service with the Armed Forces of the DRC (FARDC).

Social media posts incorrectly identified the aircraft as a ‘Sukhoi' that had been carrying out airstrikes against M23 rebels in the Minembwe area. The Sukhoi Su-25 was previously the FARDC's only known ground-attack jet.

This is not the first time this mistake has been made as a social media video from 10 April purportedly showed an Su-25 carrying out an airstrike in Minembwe. It actually showed an L-39 discharging countermeasure flares as it flew low over terrain matching the hills around Minembwe.

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