Russia’s defence ministry claimed on Sunday that its air defence systems had successfully shot down four Ukrainian military aircraft within the past 24 hours. This came just two days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced that Kyiv had downed three Russian fighter-bomber jets.
The defence ministry’s daily dispatch reported that its air defence had taken down three Su-27 fighter aircraft and one Su-24 tactical bomber in the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions of southeastern Ukraine. However, no further details were provided in the dispatch.
During a previous announcement on Friday, Zelenskiy had declared that the country’s forces had successfully shot down three Russian Su-34 fighter-bomber aircraft on the southern front, which he described as a success in the 22-month-old conflict. The commander of Ukraine’s air force also confirmed that the planes had been downed.
It is important to note that Reuters was not immediately able to corroborate the battlefield reports from either side.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
