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| The wreckage of the Su-35S that crashed in Ukraine |
Kiev - The Ukrainian military claims Russia has lost about 24 Su-35 advanced fighter jets during its invasion. According to Kiev, Moscow's military is now starting to switch to obsolete fighters.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, in a Facebook post, said that Russia started using outdated Su-24M bombers after its troops lost "two squadrons" of advanced combat aircraft in the war. “The Su-35 aircraft also shows a low level of endurance.
During the full-scale aggression, the occupying [troops] lost two squadrons of such aircraft by about 24 units," Deputy Head of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Brigadier General Alexey Gromov said in the post, as quoted by Newsweek, Friday (12/8/2022) .
Moscow troops, on orders from Russian President Vladimir Putin, launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, which sparked widespread and swift international condemnation. Although Putin and his advisers reportedly believed they could quickly take control and overthrow the government in Kiev, the initial offensive was thwarted by the Ukrainian army and civilians who opposed the aggression.
Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine Brigadier General Oleksiy Hromov said that Russia indicated it was starting to use outdated Su-24M bombers. Hromov also said on Thursday that Moscow's accuracy in recent strikes was low, as its pilots reportedly wanted to avoid being shot down.
"Enemy planes and helicopters avoid flying into our air defense range, and therefore the accuracy of this attack is low," the general said. The Russian military has not commented on the Ukrainian military's claims, including the loss of two dozen advanced Su-35 fighter jets.