The Russian Ministry of Defense has released these images allegedly showing combat sorties of some of its Su-35S and Su-30SM fighter jets.
The images show heavily armed Su-35S and Su-30SM fighter jets being prepped for takeoff.
One of the fighter jets can be seen taxiing down a runway at an undisclosed location before taking off.
After it takes to the skies, the images show five more planes taking off one after the other.
The footage then shows the view from the cockpit of one of the planes before switching to what appears to be the plane’s targeting system. It appears to lock onto its designated target for firing missiles.
It is currently unclear what the planes were targeting exactly. They can then be seen returning to base and landing on the runway before the footage ends.
The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) released the images on the evening of May 30.
Russian state media said that the images were filmed within the scope of the so-called “special military operation,” which is what the Kremlin is still calling the war in Ukraine.
From February 24 to May 30, the total combat losses of Russian troops stand at around 30,350 personnel, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian military also claims that Russia has lost 1,349 tanks, 3,282 armored fighting vehicles, 643 artillery systems, 205 multiple launch rocket systems, 93 anti-aircraft systems, 207 warplanes, 174 helicopters, 2,258 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, 13 vessels, 507 unmanned aerial vehicles, 48 units of special equipment, and 118 cruise missiles.
The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has now confirmed 8,900 civilian casualties in Ukraine, including 4,074 dead and 4,826 injured. But the OHCHR believes that “the actual figures are considerably higher.”
This is because “receipt of information from some locations where intense hostilities have been going on has been delayed and many reports are still pending corroboration.”
The OHCHR said that information is still lacking regarding, for example, Mariupol in the Donetsk region, Izium in the Kharkiv region, and Popasna in the Luhansk region, where there are allegations of numerous civilian casualties.
Ukrainian officials say that about 20,000 civilians died during the Russian siege of the strategic port city of Mariupol alone, which is now under Russian control after the last remaining Ukrainian forces surrendered after holding out at the Azovstal steelworks for weeks.
