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Dramatic moment Ukraine shoots down another of Putin's £15million SU-25 fighter jets as Zelensky reveals Western-supplied F-16s helped destroy Russian rockets during missile blitz
This is the dramatic moment Ukrainian air forces shot down another of Putin's £15million fighter jets in the latest blow to Russia's stumbling war effort.
A Sukhoi SU-25 attack aircraft is seen exploding in a fireball as it flies over Ukrainian positions around Kramatorsk, Ukrainian sources claimed.
The plane was forced to release flares to distract heat-seeking missiles while flying low with another aircraft in eastern Ukraine, but was reportedly struck before plummeting to the ground.
Anti-aircraft gunners of the 28th separate mechanised brigade took down the latest Su-25 scalp with a man portable air defence missile, the sources said.
Russia has launched devastating attacks inside Ukraine since Kyiv's shock incursion into the Kursk region earlier this month - but damage has been limited by American-supplied F-16s now on hand to destroy foreign rockets, President Zelensky has claimed.
A Ukrainian jet appears to chase down one of Putin's SU-25 fighters over eastern Ukraine
The SU-25 appears to deploy flares in a bid to divert a Ukrainian missile attack
But video then ostensibly shows the jet erupting in flames, unable to shake off the attacks
File photo shows a Sukhoi SU-25 fighter jet
Russian attacks inside Ukraine have intensified in recent days, with several Ukrainian regions targeted by a mix of missile and drone attacks.
At least five people have been killed, including two when a hotel was 'wiped out' by a missile in central Kryvyi Rih, according to local officials.
Three people died during an attack in Zaporizhzhia.
Zelensky has vowed to retaliate and pleaded with allies to bolster Ukraine's munitions to keep up momentum as Kyiv pushes back into Russian territory.
The downing of an SU-25 marks another recorded Ukrainian success that may encourage Ukraine's backers to continue supplying Kyiv with weapons.
“The fate of the crew is still unknown, but we know for sure that our infantry has one less problem,” reported the 28th brigade on social media.
In total, during the invasion of Ukraine, the Russians have lost at least 33 Su-25 attack aircraft, according to calculations by OSINT project Oryx, which documents losses in equipment on both sides of the conflict.
Other analyses suggest Putin has seen as many as 43 Su-25s in the war prior to this loss.
Moscow has not officially acknowledged the loss of another Su-25.
Still, Russia is making gains in the Donbas rust belt of eastern Ukraine.
But Kyiv’s forces are holding 100 settlements inside Russia in Kursk region, and are also seeking to smash their way into Belgorod region, forcing Putin to move troops from Donbas and Crimea to defend his own territory.
During a war briefing this week, Zelensky called for more F-16 jets and more training for pilots as he revealed some were used to shoot down Russian missiles during the attacks inside Ukraine this week.
He also shared that Ukraine had tested its first domestically produced ballistic missiles, adding that he could not provide further details at this stage.
Ukraine has been aiming to develop its own missiles and adjacent hardware to reduce dependency on Western aid as the war rages on.
Separately, Zelensky announced the use of the Palianytsia missile-drone over the weekend, claiming it had been used successfully already.
While Ukraine has capacity to produce between 1.5 million and two million drones this year, he warned the country currently still lacks the funding.
Western support has bolstered Ukraine to resist Russia's assaults since the reopening of the Kharkiv offensive in May.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy answers media questions standing against the background of Ukraine's Air Force's F-16 fighter jets on August 4
The F-16 fighter jets that have been delivered to Ukraine by Western countries will be flying sorties in Ukrainian skies and helping the country's current fleet of Soviet-era jets to counter Russia's invasion
Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Astrakhan region governor Igor Babushkin during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, August 27
A soldier of Ukraine's 22nd Separate Mechanised Brigade aims a Browning M2 machine gun during an exercise in the Sumy region near the Russian border, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, August 17, 2024
Russian soldiers fire an AGS-17 automatic grenade launcher towards Ukrainian positions at an undisclosed location in the Russian Kursk region
Ukrainian servicemen ride a military vehicle, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the Russian border in Sumy region, Ukraine August 11, 2024
Russian attacks saw some of Kyiv's backers grant more flexibility in how Ukraine uses its donated weapons.
Since then, Ukraine has been able to stage an assault into the Kursk and Belgorod regions of Russia while destroying key infrastructure and plants supplying the Russian military.
This hinders Russia's ability to launch cross-border assaults into Ukraine.
Zelensky said this week that the incursion into Kursk was partly considered to pre-empt and Russian offensive into Sumy or Chernihiv oblasts.
He added that it was part of a plan to find a lasting solution to the conflict that preserved Ukraine's territorial integrity.
An aide to Putin has said there can be no peace talks with Ukraine amid its foray into Kursk, however.