On Sunday, military leaders from Russia and Ukraine claimed credit for shooting down enemy planes in separate locations along the 1,000-kilometer (621-mile) front of their 22-month-long conflict.
A Russian Su-34 fighter bomber was shot down by Ukrainian anti-aircraft troops near the Russian-occupied city of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov in southern Ukraine, according to Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk.
In his message on the Telegram messaging service, Oleshchuk said that the plane had not returned to its base, but he did not elaborate.
The Russian Defense Ministry said earlier that Russian air defense systems had shot down four Ukrainian military planes in the last 24 hours. This comes only two days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy claimed that Kyiv had shot down three Russian aircraft.
According to Reuters, Ukraine said on Friday that it had shot down three Su-34 fighter-bomber planes from Russia. Military leaders and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine celebrated it as a significant victory in their conflict with Russia. Zelensky attributed the downing of the planes at Kherson to the anti-aircraft unit of the Odesa region.
According to the daily report from the Russian Defense Ministry, three Su-27 fighter jets and one Su-24 tactical bomber were shot down by Russian air defense in the southeast Ukrainian areas of Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk. Additional information was not included in the transmission.
In an interview with Ukrainian NV Radio, aviation expert Valeriy Romanenko of Ukraine weighed in on allegations that the military operation used Patriot missiles provided by the United States. In referring to the Patriot missiles’ range, Romanenko said that the Russians lacked judgment.
According to the BBC, Zelensky also mentioned a new EU assistance package and his conversations with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte over the future supply of F-16 planes.
At a time when Kyiv is under pressure from all sides, the Netherlands declared on Friday that it was getting ready to ship 18 of the F-16 fighter planes that the US had promised to Ukraine.
After pilot training in Ukraine was completed, the United States gave its blessing, and in August, the Netherlands and Denmark declared that they would provide up to 61 planes.
