Air Force commander: Ukraine downs 3 Russian warplanes

Ukraine's military shot down two Russian Su-34 fighter jets and another Russian Su-35 combat aircraft on Feb. 17, Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk reported.

The destruction of the jets is the latest in a recent uptick of downed Russian planes, including a Beriev A-50 military observation plane in January, which reportedly cost $330 million to produce.

The three fighter jets were downed in Ukraine's east on the morning of Feb. 17, Oleshchuk said on Telegram.

The Sukhoi Su-35 is a single-seater aircraft, and the Su-34 is a two-seater.

Later, the commander said that according to intercepted conversations of the Russian military, one pilot had been found after the downing while the whereabouts of the other four were still being established.

Oleshchuk published a screenshot of a post on a Russian propaganda Telegram channel, saying that only one jet, a Su-35, was lost and other planes successfully returned to their bases, which contradicts the intercepted conversations.

Russia has lost over 330 planes since the beginning of the full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Force reported on Feb. 17.

There are signs that the uptick in aircraft losses has caused Russia to change its aerial strategy, reducing the number of sorties flown by Russia's Air Force, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in December 2023.

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The Kyiv IndependentKateryna Hodunova