Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and military officials said the country's armed forces shot down three Russian Su-34 fighter-bombers on the southern front on Friday, calling it a success in the 22-month war.
The Russian military did not report the incident. But Russian bloggers acknowledged the loss and analysts suggested that US-supplied Patriot missiles had likely been used.
Reuters could not independently confirm the reports.
“Today at noon in the southern sector – minus three Russian Su-34 fighter-bombers!” Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk wrote on the messaging app Telegram.
Air Force spokesman Yuri Ihnat described it on national television as a 'brilliantly planned operation'.
“There have been no Su-34s in our positive statistics for some time,” he said, referring to the model as one of Russia's most modern aircraft for bombing and other attacks.
Zelenskiy, in his nightly video address, praised the anti-aircraft unit from the Odesa region for downing the planes in the Kherson region.
The region was occupied during the first days of Moscow's invasion in February 2022. Ukrainian forces have been trying to regain territory and took up positions on the east bank of the Dnipro River in Kherson in November.
Eurasia Daily, a Russia-based magazine, said the Ukrainian account was plausible. Kiev could have launched Patriot missiles, which have a range of up to 160 km (100 miles) against high-altitude targets, from the western side of the Dnipro River, it said.
Ukrainian aviation expert Valeriy Romanenko told Ukraine's NV Radio that he believed Patriot missiles most likely downed the Russian fighter jets.
“This was a situation where the Russians… dropped up to 100 bombs in the south. Three flew together and were caught. They didn't quite take into account that the Patriot has a range of 100 miles for aerodynamic targets,” said Romanenko.
Ukrainian successes have become less frequent since the armed forces made meteoric gains in retaking Russian-occupied areas in the northeast and south a year ago.
A counter-offensive launched in the east and south in June has made limited progress. Zelenskiy acknowledges that gains have been slower than hoped, but has rejected claims by the military commander-in-chief, General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, that the war has entered a phase of “attrition” that requires a change in tactics.
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