Russia announces three Ukrainian jets shot down

Two Kiev-operated Sukhoi Su-27 aircraft were destroyed by the Russian Aerospace Forces, while Russian air defenses shot down one Mikoyan MiG-29, the Russian Defense Ministry said in its daily update on September 15. During the same period, Russian air defenses also intercepted a US-made HIMARS missile, four French-made Hammer guided bombs and 55 drones.

Over the past 24 hours, Ukrainian forces have lost more than 2,200 troops along the front line and dozens of other pieces of equipment, including several US-made M777 towed howitzers and British L-119 howitzers.

Production of the Su-27 and MiG-29 began in the Soviet Union in the early 1980s, with the fighters designed to counter American fourth-generation aircraft such as the F-15 and F-16.

In July, Forbes reported, citing Oryx defense analysis data, that Ukraine had about 125 jets including Su-27s, Su-25s, MiG-29s and others when the Russia-Ukraine conflict escalated in February 2022. About 90 of those planes have been destroyed since then, Forbes added.

A “coalition” of European countries, including the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Belgium, promised to supply Kiev with some 80 F-16s more than a year ago.

Ukraine, which received fewer than a dozen U.S.-designed jets in early August, lost its first F-16 on its first combat deployment later that month. The Western-supplied fighter crashed during a Russian missile and drone attack on targets in Ukraine, killing one of the country’s most experienced pilots. Ukrainian investigators have yet to release a cause for the crash, with media reports suggesting a combination of technical failure, pilot error and friendly fire.

The Russian Defense Ministry has not reported shooting down an F-16. Several Russian news agencies have claimed that the Western plane may have been destroyed on the ground by an Iskander missile in an attack on an airfield in western Ukraine.