On Saturday, Ukrainian forces shot down two Russian Su-34 fighter-bombers and one Su-35 fighter in the skies over eastern Ukraine, said the country’s air force chief.
“On the morning of February 17, 2024, in the eastern (sector), units of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine destroyed three enemy aircraft at once – two Su-34 fighter-bombers and one Su-35 fighter,” Mykola Oleshchuk wrote on Telegram.
Since acquiring advanced Western air defence systems, Kyiv has been able to deploy these weapons to pose an increasing threat to Russian aviation in areas near the front lines as the second anniversary nears of Russia’s attack.
Meanwhile, after months of intense fighting, Ukrainian forces have withdrawn from the key eastern town of Avdiivka.
The town witnessed an escalation of Moscow’s attacks, including airstrikes, artillery bombardment, and ground assaults by armoured vehicles and soldiers, CNN reported on Saturday. It had become one of the most fiercely contested battlegrounds on the eastern front.
President of Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking at the Munich Security Conference, clarified that the decision to pull back from Avdiivka was driven by the imperative to “save our soldiers’ lives.” He stressed that the exit did not imply a considerable territorial loss but was a strategic move to prevent encirclement.