Russia Says It Downs Four Ukrainian Military Aircraft

 Ukrainian Army snipers practice shooting at a firing range near a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine December 23, 2023. (Reuters)
Ukrainian Army snipers practice shooting at a firing range near a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine December 23, 2023. (Reuters)
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Russia Says It Downs Four Ukrainian Military Aircraft

 Ukrainian Army snipers practice shooting at a firing range near a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine December 23, 2023. (Reuters)
Ukrainian Army snipers practice shooting at a firing range near a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine December 23, 2023. (Reuters)

Russia's defense ministry said on Sunday its air defense systems had shot down four Ukrainian military aircraft over the past 24 hours, just two days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Kyiv had downed three Russian fighter-bomber jets.

In its daily dispatch, the defense ministry said its air defense shot down three Su-27 fighter aircraft and one Su-24 tactical bomber in the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions of southeastern Ukraine.

The dispatch provided no further details.

On Friday, Zelenskiy said the country's forces shot down three Russian Su-34 fighter-bomber aircraft on the southern front, hailing it as a success in the 22-month-old conflict.

The commander of Ukraine's air force also said the planes had been downed.

Reuters was not immediately able to corroborate the battlefield reports from either side.



Drone Attacks on a Military Facility in Southern Russia Spark a Fire

File photo: A local views the destruction following a Russian missile strike in a village outside of Kyiv, 18 August 2024 amid the Russian invasion. EPA/SERGEY DOLZHENKO 60404
File photo: A local views the destruction following a Russian missile strike in a village outside of Kyiv, 18 August 2024 amid the Russian invasion. EPA/SERGEY DOLZHENKO 60404
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Drone Attacks on a Military Facility in Southern Russia Spark a Fire

File photo: A local views the destruction following a Russian missile strike in a village outside of Kyiv, 18 August 2024 amid the Russian invasion. EPA/SERGEY DOLZHENKO 60404
File photo: A local views the destruction following a Russian missile strike in a village outside of Kyiv, 18 August 2024 amid the Russian invasion. EPA/SERGEY DOLZHENKO 60404

A drone attack sparked a fire at a military facility in the Volgograd region of southern Russia on Thursday, regional officials and the country's Ministry of Defense said.
Regional Volgograd Governor Andrei Bocharov said on Telegram that a “defense ministry facility” was on fire after being attacked with drones in the area of Marinovka. There were no casualties, he said.
Bocharov did not specify what was damaged but Russian Telegram channels said that drones attempted to attack a military air base near Marinovka in the village of Oktyabrsky, The Associated Press said.
Ukraine did not acknowledge the attack but it comes as Ukraine has intensified its attacks on Russia, with a ground offensive into the Russian region of Kursk and drone attacks that targeted Moscow on Wednesday in what the capital's mayor called one of the largest done attacks to date since Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Videos shared on Russian social media channels showed thick black smoke rising from the air base and an explosion in the night sky reportedly near the base. Marinovka is about 300 kilometers (185 miles) east of the Ukrainian border and about the same distance west from the border with Kazakhstan.
The Baza Telegram channel, which is close to Russian law enforcement, said one drone was taken down several kilometers (miles) from the airfield and that wreckage from another fell on a trailer near the air base, causing it to catch fire.
Data from NASA fire satellites, which monitor Earth for forest blazes, showed fires breaking out around the air base’s apron, where fighter jets previously have been seen parked.