Ukraine claims to have shot down another Su-34 bomber – the fourth in three days – in a significant blow to Vladimir Putin’s war effort.
It came as shelling by Kyiv forces triggered a major inferno in Russian-occupied mining stronghold Horlivka, destroying the main shopping centre.
The latest £40 million twin-seat Su-34 was downed towards Mariupol, the Ukrainian air force Lt-Gen Mykola Oleschuk announced.
‘It has been confirmed that our anti-aircraft missile system hit the Su-34 fighter-bomber in the direction of Mariupol,’ he said.
‘He did not return to the airport.’
The latest £40 million twin-seat Su-34 was downed towards Mariupol, the Ukrainian air force Lt-Gen Mykola Oleschuk announced (File Photo)
The downing of the plane came as shelling by Kyiv forces triggered a major inferno in Russian-occupied mining stronghold Horlivka, destroying the main shopping centre. Videos show a ferocious blaze, with thick clouds of smoke billowing and cinders raining down
Ukraine is also checking evidence that it downed an Su-30 fighter towards Odesa over the Black Sea.
The blows defy gloom about Ukraine’s war progress amid signs of a slowing of Western supplies.
Air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat has claimed that Russia has been forced to reduce its combing strikes due to the loss of Su-34s.
On December 22, Ukraine revealed the downing of three Su-34s, believed to have been hit by Patriot missile strikes.
Russian aviation expert Alexey Zakharov called the losses a ‘cruel’ reality of war.
Ukraine staged a fierce attack on Horlivka striking a ‘warehouse’ believed to be used by the Russian military at the city’s main shopping centre, Galaktika.
Russian Su-34 bomber (File Photo). Air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat has claimed that Russia has been forced to reduce its combing strikes due to the loss of Su-34s
Ukraine staged a fierce attack on Horlivka striking a ‘warehouse’ believed to be used by the Russian military at the city’s main shopping centre, Galaktika. Pictured: The building on fire
One woman was killed and six were wounded in the rocket attacks on the city in Donetsk region, according to Russian sources.
Videos show a ferocious blaze, with thick clouds of smoke billowing and cinders raining down, at the shopping centre in Horlivka, a city twinned with Barnsley in South Yorkshire.
Russia claimed to have downed three Su-27 fighter aircraft and one Su-24 tactical bomber – all Ukrainian – but there was no confirmation of the claim.
Separately, images have emerged of damage caused by a Ukrainian HIMARS strike on a fuel train in Ilovaisk.
At least six 55-tonne tanker wagons were destroyed in the strike on a train supplying the Russian military machine in occupied Donetsk region.