Success for Ukraine

London: Russia has probably lost 100 fighter jets so far

(Bild: AFP)

According to the British Ministry of Defense, it is "very likely that Russia has lost at least 100 fighter jets so far." The crash of a Russian supersonic bomber - as reported by krone.at - was probably also caused by a Ukrainian fighter jet being shot down.

It is almost certain that this is another success by Kiev against the Russian air force, the British Ministry of Defense said on X (formerly Twitter, see post below) on Saturday. "This is the first time a strategic bomber has been shot down by Ukrainian air defense systems."

Supersonic heavy bomber shot down
The Russian Air Force lost one of its Tupolev Tu-22M3 supersonic heavy bombers (NATO codename "Backfire") on Friday. While the Ministry of Defense in Moscow spoke of a crash that presumably had "technical causes". The plane crashed in the southern Russian region of Stavropol - around 300 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.

Ukraine claimed that the plane had been shot down. The commander of the Ukrainian air force, Mykola Oleshchuk, announced that this was the first time such an aircraft had been shot down with a missile.

It is almost certain that the reports about the use of an S-200 missile are true and that this is another successful Ukrainian action against the Russian Air Force. This system is probably the same one that was used to shoot down a Russian A-50 (a reconnaissance aircraft, note) on February 23, writes the British Ministry of Defense on X.