Said in Ukraine- it shot down five Russian fighter planes in three days

The Ukrainian military said on Monday it had shot down five Russian fighter planes in three days, one of the largest weekly losses for the Russian air force since the war began and a rare bright spot for Ukraine. Whose forces have suffered setbacks ever since. Counter-attack for months this year. But if Russia’s claim that it has taken complete control over the eastern city of Marinka is true, then this news may be useless. Russian forces have slowly advanced in months of fighting against Ukrainian troops there, but Ukraine has denied that the city was completely under Russian control. Just days after claiming to have shot down three Su-34 fighter-bombers on Friday, the Ukrainian military said it had destroyed two more jets on Sunday. The claims could not be independently verified. On Tuesday morning, Ukraine’s air force claimed another victory, saying it had destroyed a Russian ship, the Novocherkassk. The account could not be independently verified. Sergei Aksyonov, Russia’s head of Crimea, said Ukrainian forces had attacked Crimea’s Black Sea city of Feodosia, setting its port on fire. Military analysts, as well as several Ukrainian officials, have suggested that Western-supplied Patriot missile systems may have been used in attacks on Russian aircraft – an unusual example of air defense systems, which are mostly deployed to shoot down incoming missiles. Is being used against aircraft. Celebrating Monday’s announcement, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, “This Christmas sets the right mood for the entire next year.” The same day, Russia said it had taken some blocks in Marinka that were under Ukrainian control. Despite being largely reduced to rubble after months of shelling, Marinka remains of some strategic importance as a key Ukrainian fortress on the eastern front. Still, Ukraine has time to build up a fallback position if the city falls and has vowed to thwart Russia’s efforts to advance to the borders of the Donetsk region, which it claimed to have captured last year. Was. The attack on Marinka was part of an offensive that Moscow has launched on the eastern front in recent months, and its capture could deal a blow to Ukrainian morale. “Our troops have the opportunity to establish a wider operational area,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a video of a conversation between himself and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. During this, Shoigu told Putin that Marinka had been captured.