Ukraine says it has shot down five Russian planes, while Moscow claims it has captured a city
The Ukrainian army said on Monday that it had shot down five Russian fighter jets in three days, one of the biggest weekly losses for the Russian air force since the war began and a rare bright spot for Ukraine, whose forces have suffered setbacks since this year’s failed months-long counteroffensive .
But the news could be offset if Russia’s claim that it had taken full control of the eastern city of Marinka were true. Russian troops have gradually advanced after a months-long battle against Ukrainian forces there, but Ukraine denied the city was fully under Russian control.
Just days later to claim After downing three Su-34 fighter-bombers on Friday, the Ukrainian army said it had destroyed two more fighter jets on Sunday. The claims could not be independently verified.
Military analysts, as well as several Ukrainian officials, have suggested that Western-supplied Patriot missile systems may have been used to target the warplanes — an unusual example of the air defense systems, which have typically been deployed to shoot down incoming missiles. against aircraft.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine celebrates the announcement said Monday“This Christmas sets the right mood for the whole of next year.”
That same day, Russia said it had seized the few blocks in Marinka that remained under Ukrainian control. Despite being largely in ruins after months of shelling, Marinka still has some strategic value as it is an important Ukrainian fortress on the eastern front.
Still, Ukraine has had time to build up fallback positions in case the city falls, and has vowed to counter Russia’s attempts to advance to the borders of the Donetsk region, which it claimed to have annexed last year will thwart.
“Our forces have the opportunity to create a larger operational area,” Putin said in a speech video of a conversation between him and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, in which Mr. Shoigu told the Russian president that Marinka had been captured.
But Oleksandr Shtupun, a spokesman for the Ukrainian military, denied Russia’s claim to now have full control of Marinka, saying on national television that Ukrainian troops “are in the city.”
Russia has taken the initiative on much of the battlefield, and delays in the delivery of desperately needed military aid caused by political wrangling in Washington have reportedly forced some Ukrainian units to scale back operations.
Although Russia has not been able to achieve air supremacy across Ukraine, the size of its air fleet is dwarfed by that of Ukraine. It has been a driving force behind Moscow’s regular bombardments of Ukrainian army positions, in addition to attacks by warships and field artillery from the Black Sea. Downing the fighter jets could ease pressure on Ukrainian forces operating in the fighting hotspots. analysts saidsuch as near the southern city of Kherson.
On Monday, Yurii Ihnat, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, said on national television that Russia “no longer actively fought in the Kherson region, realizing that there could be a trap for them” and instead deployed a dozen drones in had launched into the area. to try to identify the system that shot down the planes.
The Su-34 fighter jets are Russia’s modern fighter-bombers, with the ability to hit distant targets while carrying several tons of bombs and missiles. They have been used repeatedly to hit Ukrainian forces with powerful glide bombs, which are guided, air-dropped munitions that can fly long distances.
Ukrainian officials said a Su-34 that was destroyed on Sunday was operating near the Russian-occupied city of Mariupol, while the location of another Su-30 plane that was shot down is unknown.
The three fighter jets downed on Friday were operating near the southern city of Kherson, authorities said, from where Ukraine launched daring but deadly operations to secure a bridgehead on the Russian-controlled eastern bank of the Dnipro River. set.
In response, Russian forces bombed the area, including Kherson, which is on the opposite side and is in Ukrainian hands. Local authorities said three civilians were killed in the shelling of residential buildings on Sunday.
Mr. Ihnat told Ukrainian television that the Russian fighter jets flew close to Ukrainian defense positions and tried to hit them with guided bombs when they were shot down.
“They took a risk,” Mr. Ihnat said, “without success.”
Although Ukraine has not officially confirmed how the five fighter jets were downed, Mykola Bielieskov, a military analyst at the National Institute for Strategic Studies, a Ukrainian government research group, said US-designed Patriot systems – America’s most advanced air defense system in the world ground system — could be involved in the operation.
The Patriot can shoot down incoming missiles before they hit their intended targets, and can also attack aircraft from up to about sixty miles away.
Mr Bielieskov said Ukraine had already used the system to shoot down five Russian aircraft over Russia’s Bryansk region in May. as Mr. Ihnat recently told the Ukrainian media.
Ukrainian military officials also pointed to the use of Patriot systems in destroying the fighter jets.
On Friday, Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk published a screenshot of a Russian article that referenced President Vladimir V. Putin’s statement last year that the Russian military would destroy the Patriot systems. “Coincidence. I don’t think so,” said Mr. Oleshchuk wrote on the messaging app Telegram.
The next day, Mr. Ihnat posted on Facebook including emojis representing a skull and crossbones, three airplanes and an image of a Patriot system. “That’s exactly what gives us confidence and a good mood,” he said.
Russian authorities did not report the incidents, although they did said Sunday that their military had shot down four Ukrainian planes, a claim that could not be independently verified.
But the Fighterbomber Telegram channel, believed to be operated by Captain Ilya Tumanov of the Russian Army, reported on Friday the loss of an unspecified number of Russian fighter planes, proverb they had been downed by Patriot missiles.
When Ukraine first received some Patriot systems earlier this year, they were in short supply and were mainly used to protect Kiev from Russian attacks. They have proven to be very successful in that role.
Since then, there have been more deliveries of the advanced system, including one earlier this month from Germany. Mr Bielieskov said some systems may now have been deployed to locations near the front line, including on the southern front, “as cover for land groupings of armed forces.”
Ukraine has been highly secretive about its use of Western air defenses, fearing that the Russian military would target them.
Mr. Zelensky said at a news conference last week that Ukraine would receive several additional Patriot systems this winter, without specifying a number. “We are becoming stronger and more powerful,” he said.
Valeriy Romanenko, a Ukrainian aviation expert, told Ukrainian radio Saturday that the presence of Patriot systems on the southern front would make the situation safer for Ukrainian troops.
“Now this number of attacks with KABs will decrease,” said Mr. Romanenko, using the name for the guided bombs fired by Russian fighter jets. The Russians should “carefully prepare each operation and check whether there is a patriot in the area,” he added.
Natalia Novosolova And Ivan Nechepurenko research contributed.