Moscow [Russia], December 26: On December 25, the Ukrainian Air Force announced that it had destroyed 28/31 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and 2 missiles launched by Russia overnight.
A day earlier, Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk said that air defense forces had hit a Russian Su-34 fighter-bomber near the city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine.
According to Reuters, Mr. Oleshchuk did not say whether the plane crashed or not, only that it did not return to base. The commander also said that the air force launched a missile towards a Russian Su-30 fighter in the Black Sea but the condition of the aircraft was unknown. On December 22, Ukraine announced that it had shot down three more Su-34s in the south. In an announcement on December 24, the Russian Ministry of Defense said it shot down 4 Ukrainian military aircraft in just 24 hours, including 3 Su-27 fighters and 1 Su-24 bomber in the two provinces of Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia. in southeastern Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine did not comment on each other's statements.
Recently, the Netherlands announced that it is preparing to provide 18 F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, although it did not reveal the time. In the context that the West and Russia are both increasing weapons production to add to the conflict in Ukraine, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, the official in charge of supervising weapons production, yesterday announced that Moscow is in " superior door" compared to the West. Reuters quoted Mr. Manturov as saying the number of state defense orders in 2023 had doubled compared to the previous year.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper
