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By Ellie Cook
Senior Defense Reporter
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Ukrainian forces have shot down a Russian supersonic fighter-bomber over eastern Ukraine, according to Kyiv's military, in the latest blow to Russia's air force in the nearly two years of all-out war in the country.
A Russian Su-34 was destroyed over the eastern Luhansk region of Ukraine, the General Staff of Ukraine's armed forces said in an early morning operational update on Tuesday. The jet was downed on Monday, the Ukrainian military said.
Moscow's forces have lost a total of 332 aircraft in the more than 23 months of war, Kyiv said on Tuesday. In the past day, Russia also lost 10 tanks, 29 armored combat vehicles and 31 artillery systems, the Ukrainian military said.
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"Great job, warriors!" the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said in a brief post to social media.
Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.
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The grueling war in Ukraine has come at a heavy cost to both Moscow's and Kyiv's air forces. Russia's air force is larger and more advanced, but Ukraine is expecting deliveries of Western-made F-16 fighter jets to bolster its battered, Soviet-era fleet.
Ukraine has repeatedly targeted Russia's Su-34s, which are modern supersonic fighter-bombers used to attack Ukrainian positions.
Earlier this month, Ukraine's military intelligence agency said a Russian Su-34 "burned down" at an airbase near Chelyabinsk, a city in western-central Russia.
In late December, Ukraine said it shot down three Su-34s over the country's southern Kherson region in a single day. Kyiv separately said on Christmas Eve that it had destroyed a Russian Su-30 and Su-34.
On December 24, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that a total of five Russian 'Su' aircraft were shot down in the week leading up to Christmas. The losses "the right mood for the entire year ahead—the mood of our capabilities," Zelensky said in a statement.
Ukraine's air force said in early March 2023 it had shot down an Su-34 over the eastern Donetsk region.
Russia's Su-34 has also suffered from several, self-inflicted incidents throughout the full-scale war. Russia said in September 2023 that one of its Su-34 jets had crashed during a "scheduled training flight" in the country's Voronezh region.
In October 2022, a Russian S-34 crashed into a residential building in Russia's Krasnodar region. The accident in the port city of Yeysk, which sits on the Sea of Azov across from Ukraine, killed 15 people, according to Russian state news agency Tass.
Update 1/30/2024 at 5:30 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
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