Ukraine claims it shot down 2 Russian fighter jets, 28 drones

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) – Ukraine claimed on Monday that it shot down two fighter jets, two missiles, and 28 drones amid an overnight Russian airstrike.

A statement by the Ukrainian Air Force claimed that Russia attacked the country with 31 drones launched from the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014.

The statement went on to claim that 28 of the attack drones were destroyed by air defense systems over Ukraine’s Odesa, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Donetsk, Kirovohrad, and Khmelnytskyi regions.

It further claimed that Russia used a Kh-59 guided air missile in the direction of Zaporizhzhia, as well as a Kh-31P anti-radiation missile from the Black Sea, both of which were downed.

“Anti-aircraft missile units of the Air Force also destroyed two enemy aircraft: one Su-34 in the Donetsk region (which was reported in the evening) and one Su-30SM over the Black Sea,” the statement also said.

Russian officials have not yet commented on the claim, and independent verification of Ukraine's claim is difficult due to the ongoing war.

Late Sunday, Mykola Oleshchuk, the commander of Ukraine’s Air Force, claimed on Telegram that the country’s air defense systems hit one Su-34 fighter-bomber in the direction of the city of Mariupol, which has been under Russian control since May 2022.

Earlier in the day, Russia also claimed to have shot down four Ukrainian fighter jets, namely three Su-27s and one Su-24, over the country's Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.