Russia announced that three Ukrainian jets were shot down.

Two Sukhoi Su-27 aircraft operated by Kyiv 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 lines and dozens of different 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's defense analytics data, that Ukraine had approximately 125 fighter jets, including Su-27s, Su-25s, MiG-29s, and others, when the Russia-Ukraine conflict escalated in February 2022. Around 90 of these aircraft have been destroyed since then, Forbes added.

A "coalition" of European nations, including the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, and Belgium, pledged to supply Kyiv with around 80 F-16s more than a year ago.

Ukraine, which had received fewer than a dozen US-designed fighter jets by early August, lost its first F-16 in its first combat deployment later that month. The Western-supplied fighter jet 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 the cause of the crash. According to media reports, possible causes include technical malfunction, pilot error, and friendly fire.

The Russian Ministry of Defense did not report on the downing of an F-16. Several Russian news agencies claimed that the Western aircraft may have been destroyed on the ground by an Iskander missile in an attack on an airfield in western Ukraine.