Direct proof of use
Ukrainian MiG-29 Fulcrums were documented in the 2014 phase of the Russia-Ukraine War soon after Russia's seizure of Crimea and the outbreak of fighting in eastern Ukraine. The Aviationist reported in August 2014 that MiG-29 and MiG-29UB aircraft evacuated from Crimea were reassembled and returned to operational status, joining Ukrainian aircraft fighting pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine.
The clearest Fulcrum-C airframe evidence appears in the full-scale invasion phase. Aviation Safety Network's MiG-29 database lists several Ukrainian Air Force MiG-29 losses from February and March 2022 and specifically records a MiG-29 9.13 of the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade lost near Novopil, Zhytomyr Oblast, on March 9, 2022. ASN's incident page for that aircraft identifies it as MiG-29 9.13 bort 10 White, says it was downed by Russian forces during combat, and records the loss of pilot Yevgeny Lysenko.
Sources: The Aviationist Ukrainian MiG-29 flight status, ASN MiG-29 accident database, ASN Novopil MiG-29 9.13 loss
Timeline
The wartime record begins in 2014 with Ukrainian MiG-29s returned to flight after evacuation from Crimea and used alongside other Ukrainian aircraft in the eastern Ukraine fighting. In the first weeks of the February 2022 full-scale invasion, public loss records show Ukrainian MiG-29s from the 40th, 114th, and 204th Tactical Aviation Brigades destroyed or damaged across Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Chernihiv, and other regions.
The March 9, 2022 Novopil loss is the most specific 9.13 data point in the reviewed sources. It supports Ukrainian wartime use of a Fulcrum-C airframe, but it does not by itself prove that the aircraft carried the later MiG-29S 9.13S weapons-control upgrade.
Sources: The Aviationist Ukrainian MiG-29 flight status, ASN MiG-29 accident database, ASN Novopil MiG-29 9.13 loss, GlobalSecurity Ukrainian MiG-29LBL
Role in the conflict
In Ukrainian service, the documented MiG-29S-related record is best understood as a Fulcrum-C and MiG-29 9.13 airframe record rather than a cleanly confirmed record of the exact MiG-29S 9.13S upgrade. GlobalSecurity's Ukrainian MiG-29LBL page gives Ukrainian MiG-29 modernization and MiG-29S/9.13 inventory context, while ASN provides conflict-loss records that identify individual wartime Ukrainian MiG-29 and MiG-29 9.13 aircraft.
The supported conflict role is fighter aviation for Ukraine: aircraft returned to operational status in 2014 for the eastern Ukraine fighting, and later MiG-29s used in the full-scale war's air-defense and combat-aircraft environment. Public sources support use, loss, brigade, location, and broad combat context more reliably than exact subvariant configuration for each aircraft.
Sources: The Aviationist Ukrainian MiG-29 flight status, ASN MiG-29 accident database, ASN Novopil MiG-29 9.13 loss, GlobalSecurity Ukrainian MiG-29LBL, NV Kyiv Air Battle Reconstruction
