Ukraine dropped a bombshell on Monday, unveiling a video of its military taking down a Russian Su-25 aircraft over Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.
The video, shared by Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense on Tuesday, captured the 110th Separate Mechanized Brigade in action. The ministry’s cheering caption read, “The 110th Mechanized Brigade released a clip of a Russian Su-25 fighter jet being taken down on June 10. Bravo, warriors!”
The clip shows the targeted aircraft plummeting from the perspective of the attacking force. According to the brigade’s Facebook post, the Russian pilot flew recklessly into their zone of control, ending with no time to regret before hitting the ground. Amidst the adrenaline, the brigade jokingly dubbed the Russian pilots as “suicide bombers.”
General Christopher Cavoli informed American lawmakers in April that Russia had lost around 10% of its air force fleet following Putin’s full-blown invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
An assessment by Dutch intelligence and defense site Oryx, using open data, confirmed the damaging impact on Russian and Ukrainian aircraft in the conflict. They reported 10 Russian and 86 Ukrainian aircrafts destroyed initially.
Recent updates from Kyiv’s military suggest that Russia has lost a staggering 359 aircraft and over 520,000 troops so far in the war. In contrast, the Russian Ministry of Defense boasted about downing at least 613 Ukrainian aircraft in the ongoing conflict.
The Russian Su-25 was taken down in Ukraine’s Donetsk Region, which forms part of the war-torn Donbas region routinely hit by violence since Russia’s incursion in 2014, gaining ground in the area.