The Ukrainian Armed Forces have been targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin's air force for the past ten days, destroying ten of its warplanes – worth a total of £611 million.
Ukraine's Ministry of Defence has said that it is proud of its attack and boasted that it had successfully eliminated ten enemy planes, marking a huge setback for the Russian Army.
Two of Russia's Su-34 fighter-bombers had been destroyed while they were in the sky, the Defence Ministry said.
Russia's army lost millions in the attack, considering each aircraft belonging to Putin's air force is worth a huge £39 million.
The Kyiv authorities also announced that it had eliminated two SU-35 jets, costing Putin's military a staggering £34 million for each aircraft. An A-50U AWACS reconnaissance plane, which Russia uses to get intelligence against Kyiv, was also hit by Ukraine's military – the authorities claimed.
The price of the reconnaissance plane cost Russia an estimated £260 million.
Mykola Oleshchuk, Ukraine's Air Force Commander, said that the planes plummeted over the east of the country.
While Ukraine celebrated the successful eliminations, Russia's advancement has been halted.
Recently Russia denied several losses to Ukraine while claiming a major victory in Avdiivka.
Russia's advancement into Avdiivka came after months of catastrophic fighting. The move was also named the nation's first major victory since it took full control of the southeastern port city of Mariupol in May.
Since NATO revealed that its munition supply was running low, Kyiv recently admitted that there was a limited number of weapons being delivered to the nation.
Ukraine said that it is tackling shortages of weaponry, including its crucial 90-mile-range Patriot air-defence missiles.
The Defence Ministry went on to note that Ukraine relies on US-made missiles, but since there is limited stock, it is even more important that the Ukrainian forces hit their Russian targets.
While Russia refutes Ukraine's success claims, this week, new images have emerged that show Russian fighter jets and a reconnaissance plane falling from the sky – according to Kyiv.
Supporting Mykola Oleshchuk's claims, the images show the planes falling over the east of the country.
In a post on Telegram, Ukraine's Air Force Commander warned Russian troops and boasted about Ukraine's million-pound success.
"I advise the occupiers to see their relatives before each flight, just in case. Because who knows, he will be lucky or not this time," Oleshchuk wrote.
Oleshchuk continued to recall the damage that Ukraine caused its air force in such a short time span and went on to urge Russia to reconsider its "airborne meat assaults".
'Russian planes continue to fall!' the Ukrainian Defence Ministry also warned.
Almost two weeks before its ten-day air force assault, Ukraine said that it had shot down two Russian Su-34 fighter-bomber jets and one Su-35 fighter jet. The Ukrainian forces said that the aircraft were shot down while they were flying over eastern Ukraine.
In another Telegram post, Ukraine's Air Force Commander wrote: "On the morning of February 17, 2024, in the eastern (sector), units of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine destroyed three enemy aircraft at once – two Su-34 fighter-bombers and one Su-35 fighter."
"This is our land, and our sky!" Oleshchuk declared, warning: "There will be more...don't hang around!"
According to a Russian Telegram channel, named 'FighterBomber', there have been "no losses" in the past ten days, and Ukrainians were "lying" about their success.
While Moscow has not confirmed nor denied the attack, other Russian Telegram accounts have "confirmed that the Ukrainian military shot down at least one Russian Su-35 aircraft".
According to reports, Ukraine conducted more successive strikes on Russian aircraft – destroying one Su-25 and five Su-34s.
