Russia attacked Ukraine with a hypersonic 3M22 Zirkon missile, seven air-launched Kinzhal missiles, 85 Kh-101 and Kalibr cruise missiles, one Iskander-M ballistic missile, four anti-radar Kh-22/31P missiles, five Kh-59/69 aerial guided missiles, and 90 drones.
Ukraine's Air Force said that beyond the 80 drones that were shot down across the country, another 44 were "lost."
Russia also attacked Ukraine with two Iskander-M ballistic missiles and two Kh-59 cruise missiles, the Air Force said. The missiles targeted Chernihiv, Sumy, Poltava, and Odesa oblasts.
The planes "will be equipped with new equipment: air-to-ground combat capabilities and anti-electronic warfare defense," a French minister said.
Russia has stepped up drone attacks in recent weeks — for the first time since the full-scale invasion, they targeted cities and towns across Ukraine on a daily basis for an entire month in September.
The first cohort of Ukrainian pilots have completed Alpha Jet training in France, the French Armed Forces announced on Sept. 20.
The Danish government promised to transfer another batch of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine by the end of this year, the DR broadcaster reported on Sept. 15, citing Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen.
The training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16s has been happening at an accelerated pace. Ukraine's pilot training program is ongoing, but "the crash shows what happens when you try to rush things," an unnamed senior defense official told the WSJ.
"Friendly fire" from a Patriot missile battery is unlikely to have caused the downing of a U.S.-made F-16 fighter jet, the New York Times reported on Aug. 31, citing two undisclosed senior U.S. military officials.
"I would probably say this is a rotation," said Defense Minister Rustem Umerov. "This is two separate issues…at this stage, I would not connect them."
President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed Ukraine's Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk on Aug. 30. The decision was announced on the Presidential Office’s official website.
Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk said that Ukraine had "received a preliminary report" from the U.S., which he said "has already joined the investigation into the causes (of the crash)."
One of the F-16 fighter jets recently delivered to Ukraine crashed while repelling a Russian mass attack, Ukraine's General Staff said on Aug. 29.
Ukraine's Air Force announced on Aug. 29 that a pilot had been killed during Russia's mass attack on Aug. 26, shortly after the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that one of the recently delivered F-16 jets had been destroyed in a crash on the same day.
Ukraine's Air Force used F-16 jets as part of its defense against Russia's mass missile and drone attack on Aug. 26, President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed during a press conference on Aug. 27.
Ukraine’s Air Force hit a platoon base in Russia’s Kursk region with high-precision U.S. GBU-39 bombs on Aug. 22, Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk reported.
The recent delivery of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine means there will be "more downed missiles and planes used by Russian criminals to attack Ukrainian cities," Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Aug. 4.
President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed on Aug. 4 that the first batch of F-16s had arrived in Ukraine and that the jets are already being used by Ukrainian pilots.
According to the Aug. 4 report, Russia has lost 363 airplanes, 326 helicopters, and 13,103 drones.
The first batch of F-16 fighter jets Ukraine received encompassed six planes provided by the Netherlands, The Times reported on July 31, citing an undisclosed source.
The news comes a year after the allied "fighter jet coalition" took shape following Kyiv's repeated appeals for Western aircraft.
Ukrainian air defense downed all 89 Shahed-type attack drones launched by Russia in a mass attack overnight, as well as one Kh-59 missile, the Ukrainian Air Force reported on July 31.
A Ukrainian first-year cadet at the Ivan Kozhedub National Air Force University in Kharkiv crashed during a training flight on July 27, the university reported. The circumstances and location of the crash have not been disclosed.
Ukraine is yet to receive the first of the pledged F-16 fighter jets, despite waiting for them for year and a half, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with the BBC on July 18.
The new weapon to be developed is an Extended-Range Attack Munition (ERAM), that aims to be a low-cost, quick to produce air-launched missile with a range of around 460 kilometers. The manufacture of the weapon is intended to begin no later than two years after the awarding of the contract and up to 1,000 are to be produced each year.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated with the latest news that F-16s have reportedly arrived in Ukraine After a long wait, F-16 fighter jets have finally arrived in Ukraine, according to reports. Citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg said the deadline for the delivery of the first
"But it is possible also to reach targets outside Ukraine (with Danish-supplied F-16s), yes," Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen added.
Norway will donate six F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, with the deliveries starting this year, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said in a press release on July 10.
In total, Russian forces launched one Kinzhal ballistc missile, four Iskander-M ballistic missile, one 3M22 Zirkon missile, 13 Kh-101 cruise missiles, 14 Kalibr cruise missiles, two Kh-22 cruise missiles, and three Kh-59/69 guided aerial missiles, according to the statement.
Russian forces hit mock-ups of warplanes and Patriot air defense launchers during recent missile attacks that Russian sources claimed had destroyed a Mig-29 aircraft and two Patriot batteries, Ukraine's Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk said on July 6.
During the overnights attacks, a Russian drone stuck energy infrastructure in Sumy Oblast, leaving several communities in the region without power, the Sumy Oblast Military Administration reported.
The Russian military destroyed a Ukrainian Mig-29 fighter jet that was stationed on the Dovhyntseve airfield in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Russia's Defense Ministry claimed on July 4.
(Updated: )
