Three Russian bomber aircraft have been shot down over southern Ukraine, the country's air force claimed on Friday.
"Today, in the Southern direction - minus three Russian Su-34 fighter bombers!," said Ukraine's Air Force.
The country's military added: "The Commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, Mykola Oleshchuk, confirmed that Ukrainian air defenders shot down three SU-34 fighter-bombers in the south direction."
Su-34 aircraft are armed with guided bombs and Kh-59 missiles and can carry out long-distance attacks.
Today, in the Southern direction - minus three Russian Su-34 fighter bombers! ✈️✈️✈️ pic.twitter.com/5F8ZmCOtgw
— Ukrainian Air Force (@KpsZSU) December 22, 2023
There were reports of a Russian military helicopter being scrambled to try to rescue the pilot of at least one of the planes.
Images going around on social media suggested at least one pilot succeeded in ejecting from one of the aircraft, with a parachute pictured on the ground.
Photo from the ejection site of one of the Su-34 pilots.
— Cloooud |🇺🇦 (@GloOouD) December 22, 2023
🇷🇺Russian channels affiliated with Military Aviation wrote that there are both living and dead pilots.
🔥| OFFICIALLY Ukrainian forces shot down 3 Su-34 aircrafts who carried KABs to strike the Ukrainian position on the… pic.twitter.com/FKoogzV00G
Details of the incidents could not be independently confirmed. But if the report is correct it would be a blow to Vladimir Putin's air force.
Russian military analysts suggested the planes were hit near Krynky in the Russian-occupied southern Kherson province.
The village is situation on the east bank of the Dnipro River where Ukrainian troops have established a bridgehead which Putin’s forces have been seeking to destroy for weeks.
Some reports suggested that the planes were downed by Patriot air defence systems supplied by the West.
“The hunt for them (the Russian planes) lasted for a long period of time,” National Security and Defence Council Secretary Oleksii Danilov told Ukrainske Radio, according to the Kyiv Independent.
“These aircraft interfered and created danger for our soldiers."
Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat added: “These (the Su-34) are one of the newest planes in service with the Russian army."
He added that an Su-34 costs “at least 50 million dollars (£40 million).”
As Ukraine pleads for more aircraft from the West, the Dutch government said it had decided to prepare an initial 18 F-16 fighter jets for delivery to Kyiv.
"The delivery of F-16s is one of the most important elements of the agreements made on military support for Ukraine," said Dutch caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte.Earlier, the Russian military unleashed another wave of drone attacks on Kyiv including one that struck near a maternity hospital.
Around two dozen Russian drones targeted Ukraine’s capital early on Friday, local officials said, injuring two people and damaging residential buildings in Moscow’s latest overnight drone strike against Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Russia said its air defences intercepted five Ukrainian drones south of Moscow in the space of less than an hour on Friday.
The defence ministry said four were intercepted over Kaluga region and a fifth was destroyed inside the Moscow region.
Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin, apparently referring to the latter incident, said fragments of the drone had fallen in the city of Podolsk but no casualties or damage had been reported.
Drone attacks aimed at Moscow have subsided since the summer, when they repeatedly hit a business district of the capital and forced frequent airport closures. In May, two drones exploded on the roof of a building in the Kremlin, without causing any serious damage.
Ukraine said on Thursday that Russia had launched about 7,400 missiles and 3,700 Iranian-made Shahed drones at targets in Ukraine in the course of the 22-month war
Friday's wave of strikes was the sixth such attack on Kyiv this month and part of a larger drone swarm aimed at parts of central, southern and western Ukraine, the country’s air force said.
Ukrainian air defences shot down 24 out of 28 attack drones, it said.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a drone hit a block of flats in the Solomyanskyi district, south of the city centre, triggering a fire on the upper floors that was quickly brought under control.
Emergency services also said several apartments were damaged on the 24th, 25th and 26th storeys of the building. Two people were injured, including one being treated in hospital.
The incident occurred a few hundred metres from a maternity hospital.
A video posted on social media showed a giant orange flame going skyward in the night.
Mr Klitschko also said drone fragments had set fire to a house under construction in Darnytskyi district on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River that runs through the city.
Pictures posted online showed construction materials strewn about the site.
Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said fragments from a downed drone had struck an apartment building in a third area, also south of the city centre.
He posted pictures showing smashed windows and heavy damage to apartments.
With drones playing such a major role in the conflict, Ukraine is seeking to build a million of the reconnaissance and attack aircraft next year.
The frontlines in Putin's war are now largely static but US defence chiefs say Russia may seek to launch new offensives once winter freezes the land for longer periods making it easier for armoured vehicles to move than in heavy mud.
Ukraine’s southern command said on Friday an unspecified infrastructure facility in the Mykolaiv region had been struck and that fragments from a downed drone had damaged a grain storage facility in the Odesa region.
No injuries were reported and the resulting fires were extinguished, authorities said.
