Ukraine has said its air force had shot down a Sukhoi Su-34 fighter jet on the eastern front in the latest reported downing of a Russian aircraft by Kyiv.
Ukraine’s claim that it had destroyed the jet makes it the 10th downed Russian aircraft in 10 days, delivering a much-needed morale boost to Kyiv’s forces after their retreat from Avdiivka in the eastern Donetsk region on February 17.
“Minus one more Su-34 in the eastern direction!” Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk posted on Telegram on Tuesday. “Yesterday, Russian pilots managed to evade our missiles, but this will not always be the case!”
“️That is why I advise the occupants to see their relatives before each departure just in case, because who knows, he will be lucky or not this time. Thank you all for your hard work! We work for victory!” added the post, according to a translation.
Russian fighter jets fly in formation over central Moscow during the Victory Day military parade on May 9, 2021. Ukraine said on Tuesday that it had downed a Sukhoi-34.
KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/Getty Images
Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry for comment about the alleged incident the location of which was not revealed. It comes on the heels of other downed Russian fighter jets.
On February 17, Ukraine said it had show down two Russian Su-34 fighter jets and a Russian Su-35 combat aircraft. The next day, Kyiv said another Su-34 had been shot down, and on February 19, a Su-34 and a Su-35S plane were reportedly shot down.
Ukraine also reportedly downed a Su-34 on February 21 and two days later , Kyiv’s forces said they had taken down a Su-34 fighter bomber, making a total of nine bombers in 10 days.
On Friday, February 23, Ukraine’s Air Force also boasted that it had taken down a Russian Beriev A-50U long-range radar-detection aircraft near the Sea of Azov using a Soviet S-200 anti-aircraft system. Russian military bloggers said that the plane, with a price tag of more than $300 million, may have been taken down in a friendly fire incident.
Kyiv also claimed success in taking out an A-50 on January 14 over the same body of water.
The latest figures released by Ukraine’s armed forces say that over the two years of the war, Russia has lost 340 aircraft, although that did not include the downed plane announced on Tuesday.
Numbers from the Oryx open-source website, which tracks Russian losses using video and still imagery as proof, put Moscow’s aircraft losses as of Tuesday at 105—97 of which were destroyed and eight were damaged. Among these, 25 were Sukhoi-34 planes and seven Su-35S aircraft. Oryx says real equipment losses are likely to be higher than its estimates.
Meanwhile, Russia’s air capabilities suffered another blow on Saturday when a blaze hit warehouses where Sukhoi planes are built in Moscow’s Begovoy district following a suspected drone strike.
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