UKRAINE has shot down a £40 million Russian bomber in another major blow to Vladimir Putin.
The strike on the Su-34 jet was confirmed by Kyiv’s military spokesman Andrii Kovalyov just days after Vlad’s £260m spy plane was blasted.
East2WestThe aftermath of Ukraine’s strike on a multi million-pound Russian bomber jet[/caption]
East2WestFlames and thick black smoke were coming from the site moments after the attack[/caption]
East2WestThe Su-34, pictured, is estimated to cost around £40million[/caption]
Dramatic pictures show bright flames and thick black smoke coming from the site moments after the latest attack over Luhansk region.
The fate of the crew was not clear.
Russian war Telegram channel FighterBomber disputed the Su-34 claim by the Ukrainian armed forces.
But Moscow has been losing a number of its Su-34 fleet both in aerial strikes and hits on airfields.
Ukrainian official Anton Gerashchenko said: “In total, according to the General Staff, since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has lost 332 aircraft.
“We thank our Heroes for their excellent work.”
Separately, Russia launched a major strike on an “oil depot” with six Shahed-type Iranian kamikaze drones on Zmiiv in Ukraine’s region.
Pictures showed a major inferno and thick smoke rising into the sky.
One Russian war source said: “An oil depot was destroyed. There is a huge fire burning there.”
There were attacks in multiple Ukrainian regions.
Ukraine said at least six Shahed-type drones attacked Zmiiv.
But the head of the Kharkiv regional administration Oleg Sinegubov said the damage was to “a civilian enterprise and residential buildings”.
Two men were wounded, aged 52 and 61, both employees of the unidentified factory.
“One broke his leg, the other had a slight fright, he went home,” said mayor Pavlo Holodnikov.
“Six windows in the private sector were damaged, communal services are working.”
He said two civilian enterprises were damaged.
Earlier this month, two of Putin’s most crucial spy planes worth £290million were shot down as Russia fears Ukraine used a secret NATO “miracle weapon” in the attack.
One of the Russian dictator’s £260million spy planes disappeared and a £30million bomber jet was set on fire after Ukrainian forces shot them out of the sky above the Azov Sea.
They were blasted out of the air in one of Moscow’s worst days for its air force since Russia’s invasion in 2022.
Last week, Ukraine dismissed Russia’s claims that 65 prisoners of war were killed in a shot-down plane as propaganda.
Moscow has said the Ukrainian PoWs were among 74 who died when a missile hit the IL-76 in Belgorod region.
Kyiv officials who deal with prisoner exchanges said Russian counterparts had “with great delay” given them the 65 names.
But they said relatives could not identify loved ones in crash-site photos.
Kyiv has neither confirmed nor denied that it downed the plane.
Also last week, a Ukrainian missile strike killed 24 Russian kamikaze drone operators.
The attack happened on Wednesday but the footage has only now been released.
Russian sources have since expressed fury at the “negligence” which allowed Kyiv to know about the gathering at Vostochny military training ground near Ilovaisk in occupied Donetsk region.
Russia has previously suffered a night of hell with Ukrainian kamikaze drone strikes on a major missile factory and gas plant.
Two huge explosions erupted at the strategically-important Novatek plant near St Petersburg, triggering a raging inferno.
A Ukrainian official also claimed there was a hit on the Shcheglovsky Val defence enterprise in Tula.
It produces the Pantsir-S and Pantsir-S1 air defence missile systems used to defend key sites including Vladimir Putin’s palaces.
But despite the Ukrainian attacks, the Russian ambassador to Britain warned that “no one has ever been able to beat” Russia.
In a disturbing warning to the West, Putin’s top crony and security chief Dmitry Medvedev vowed that Russia will do everything in its power to ensure its enemies “disappear from the face of the earth forever”.
The chilling statement comes as global tensions threaten to boil over – and civilians around the world are preparing themselves for the prospect of a third world war.
Meanwhile, Putin will be joining Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on a trip to Antarctica amid tensions with the West.
The tyrant agreed on the frosty escape after watching Russian polar explorers open a new wintering complex at the Vostok station during a video call with Europe’s longest-serving president.
East2WestA huge flare of light could be seen from far away in the Luhansk region[/caption]
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