Russian warplane shot down as Ukrainians mount counter-offensive
Dramatic footage on Wednesday showed Ukrainian forces shooting a Russian ground attack aircraft out of the sky, as Kyiv’s forces push forward with a counter-offensive on multiple fronts.
The video, which was shared by Ukrainian officer Anatoly Shtefan, captured the Su-25 warplane flying low and losing altitude, ostensibly crashing off-screen.
A voice can be heard saying in Russian — which is spoken by fighters on both sides of the conflict — that the plane “fell down.”
Shtefan’s tweet doesn’t say when the plane was shot down but indicates the fighting took place in Volokhiv Yar, a village in the northeast between Kharkiv and Izyum.
“Glory to the ZSU,” Shtefan tweeted — a reference to self-propelled anti-aircraft guns in use by Ukrainian forces.
Ukrainian forces also shot down another warplane, an Su-25 ground-attack aircraft, in the Kherson region while it was involved in defensive operations, Ukrinform reported Wednesday.
“The Su-25 was ‘grounded’ ahead of schedule by our anti-aircraft missile units,” a Ukrainian military spokesperson said.
Ukraine’s southern military command reported intense fighting in the Kherson region Wednesday.
“The situation in the operational area of southern Ukraine is tense and dynamic,” it said. “The enemy is continuing to wage defensive battles and insidious shelling of populated areas both along the contact line and in our rear areas.”
Ukrainian authorities have been relatively tight-lipped on the apparent northern flank of their counter-offensive, but Russian separatist forces reported encountering Ukrainian forces in Balakliya, a town some 10 miles from Volokhiv Yar.
With Post wires
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