Posted on 12/22/2023 3:50:30 PM PST by marcusmaximus
Ukraine said it shot down three Russian warplanes in one of its most-successful operations against Russian air power since the start of the war.
Ukraine’s Air Force said the three Russian Su-34 fighter-bombers were downed around midday Friday in the south of the country. There Russia has used the jets to launch cruise missiles and guided bombs against Ukrainian-held cities on the western bank of the Dnipro River and Ukrainian soldiers who have established a foothold on the eastern side.
Russian officials didn’t immediately comment, but Russian war bloggers close to the Kremlin acknowledged the losses and said they could have been targeted by U.S.-designed Patriot missiles.
Ukraine didn’t say how the planes were shot down. An Air Force spokesman called it “a brilliantly planned operation.”
The news is a boost for Ukraine following a series of military setbacks. Ukraine’s counteroffensive this year was unable to secure a large breakthrough of Russian defensive lines, leaving Russia in control of nearly one-fifth of its neighbor’s territory. Russia is now pursuing offensives of its own, albeit with incremental progress and heavy losses.
-snip-
Five Patriot surface-to-air missile systems from the U.S., Germany and the Netherlands are Ukraine’s most effective shield against ballistic missile attacks.
Ukraine has also deployed them at least once in a more aggressive manner to target Russian aircraft. In May, Ukraine shot down five Russian aircraft over Russia’s Bryansk Region, which borders Ukraine. A spokesman for Ukraine’s Air Force later acknowledged that the craft were shot down using Patriot missiles.
Developed by Lockheed Martin and RTX, formerly Raytheon Technologies, Patriots have successfully shot down some of Russia’s most-advanced missiles.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
But hilarious at the same time. 😄
I give up.
Did you post on those channels?
I’m stealing this one, cabojoe 🤣👍. Merry Christmas 🎄
We’ve been living in sin all this time?
Thats...kind of hot, really. And at our age too. Such a scandal. Best not to tell the children.
Merry Christmas to you! I want everyone to be stocked up for the implosion(s).
Early results are Russia is running back to mom while Papa Zelensky is personally leading Ukraine to complete and total victory. All hail the globohomo.
Vladdy is Vloddy's Daddy.
😁
Good news.
We see once again in this event that Putin’s Russia is fake and Potemkin. It seems obvious some can not deal with this simple truth and would rather censor facts that prove their intellectual deficiency.
All gazzlight, all the time.
Go call a alalympse to assist your cause.
Bring dem.
The Putin is dying!
[When all the pro-Russian posters come out you know something bad happened to the Russian military.]
I noticed that too. They try to bury the news by spaming lies and childish insults.
Nope, but it is kind of fun to see the jubilation on behalf of zeepers over relatively minor events.
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