Nine Ukrainian jets destroyed in one day (VIDEO)
The Russian military also intercepted several Western-made missiles and scores of drones, the defense ministry has reported
FILE PHOTO: A Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jet of the Ukrainian Air Force. © Nicolas Economou / NurPhoto via Getty Images
The Russian military has destroyed nine fighter jets operated by the Ukrainian Air Force in the past 24 hours, the defense ministry reported during a regular briefing on Tuesday.
It had earlier
released footage showing an airstrike on Ukraine’s Mirgorod airfield in Poltava Region. A total of seven Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jets were destroyed or damaged in the Iskander-M missile strike, the ministry said.
A later update reported that another Su-27 and a MiG-29 had been shot down by Russian air defenses. They also intercepted six British-supplied Storm Shadow cruise missiles, a French-made AASM Hammer glide bomb, a HIMARS rocket and 81 unmanned aircraft, including a Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drone, the report said.
Forbes military observer David Axe has called the Mirgorod strike
“one of the costliest single days for the battered Ukrainian air arm” since the start of the hostilities in February 2022. He recounted several successful Russian strikes on Ukrainian airfields in recent months.
