Russia Shoots Down Ukrainian Fighter Jet and Drone

The Russian Ministry of Defense in a statement Sunday (24/12/2023) stated that the country's air defenses managed to shoot down three Su-27 fighter planes and one Su-24 tactical bomber in the Zaporizhizhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions in southeastern Ukraine. "Over the past 24 hours, Russian troops have intercepted three HARM missiles, three Himars missiles and one Neptune anti-ship missile, as well as shot down four Ukrainian military aircraft and 49 Ukrainian drones," the Russian Defense Ministry statement said. The Tass news agency quoted a Russian Defense Ministry statement as saying that the country's forces had destroyed more than 10,000 Ukrainian army drones since the start of the war. On the other hand, the English-language newspaper Daily Express recently announced in a report the massive advance of Russian troops around the Ukrainian cities of Bakhmut and Audioka.(PH)