Russia downed 24 Ukrainian planes in five days – Shoigu

Russian forces are ensuring that the Ukrainian military has “increasingly fewer capabilities,” Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Wednesday after a ceremony to award troops with military decorations.

“The enemy’s mood is not particularly merry,” the senior Russian official remarked when discussing the frontline situation with the soldiers he had honored. The assessment was based on intercepted Ukrainian communications.

The minister credited “new weapons systems” as well as the professionalism of Russian troops for degrading the Ukrainian military.

“We now have weapons systems which have taken down 24 planes in five days,” the minister was quoted as saying in a press release.

Footage of the discussion published by the military did not include the comments about the new weapons, while Shoigu did not detail the time frame in which the strikes on Ukrainian aircraft were conducted.

The Defense Ministry regularly reports successful engagements of Ukrainian military aircraft by fighter jets and air defense units. Briefings from last Friday to Tuesday claimed that 18 planes had been destroyed in total.

The list included 14 MiG-29s, two Su-24s, one Su-25, and one L-39. The latter is a Czech-produced trainer-fighter plane, rather than a more capable fighter or ground attack plane like the others. A single Mi-8 helicopter was taken down in the same period, according to the ministry.

The ministry’s briefing on Friday noted that in the week starting October 14, Russian forces took out 12 Ukrainian planes, including ten MiG-29s and two Su-25s. Seven of the MiGs were destroyed in a 24-hour period, the report said.

Shoigu attended the award ceremony after visiting one of the headquarters involved in the Ukrainian campaign. It was held in a tent in which weapons trophies appeared to be on display alongside portraits of Russian military commanders and Orthodox icons.

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