Russia lost four fighter jets in under 48 hours, according to Kyiv, in a notable blow to Moscow’s air force even as the Kremlin’s troops forced Ukraine to pull back from the key front-line city of Avdiivka.
Ukraine downed a Russian Su-34 supersonic jet at around 6 a.m. local time (11 p.m. ET Saturday), the head of Ukraine’s air force, Lieutenant General Mykola Oleschuk, said in a post to Telegram on Sunday. The jet was shot down close to the eastern front lines, the Ukrainian General Staff added in a separate statement.
Oleschuk said on Saturday that Kyiv’s air force had destroyed three Russian jets over eastern Ukraine. Moscow lost two Su-34 fighter-bombers and an Su-35 fighter in the early hours of Saturday, Oleschuk said.
The air force commander posted an accompanying screenshot appearing to show intercepted radio signals from the Russian pilots. One of the signals was picked up in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, just south of the village of Blahodatne, with two others around the Luhansk village of Dyakove. A fourth signal was detected in Russia’s Rostov region bordering Ukraine, just south of Dyakove, the screenshot indicated.
MLADEN ANTONOV/AFP via Getty Images
Footage circulating online purportedly shows a damaged Russian fighter jet falling from the sky close to Dyakove, according to open-source intelligence accounts.
Newsweek could not independently verify the statements from the Ukrainian military nor the online footage, and has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email. Moscow and Kyiv rarely acknowledge their own battlefield losses.
The reports are the most recent indication of the toll that almost two years of war has wrought on Russia’s air force. According to Ukraine’s military, Moscow has now lost 335 aircraft since the start of the conflict in February 2022.
The reports come as Ukraine withdraws from the decimated front-line city of Avdiivka after more than four months of bitter fighting. It is a significant blow to Kyiv’s efforts in halting Russia’s advances in the Donetsk region and one of the biggest changes to the front line since the fall of Bakhmut to the Kremlin’s forces in May 2023.
Moscow had leveled its airpower at the Ukrainian stronghold to the northwest of Donetsk City, although Ukrainian officials and Western intelligence suggested Moscow’s aircraft, including Su-35s, were firing guided aerial bombs at Avdiivkaat range for fear of losing jets to Ukrainian air-defense systems.
Ukraine’s army chief, Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, said that two Su-34 fighter-bombers and an Su-35 fighter taken out on Saturday were conducting strikes with guided aerial rockets on Ukrainian troop positions at the time.
The bombing has destroyed Avdiivka, and Syrskyi confirmed in a statement on Saturday that Ukrainian fighters had pulled back from the city to avoid Russian encirclement. “We are taking measures to stabilize the situation and maintain our positions,” Syrskyi added.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.