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Four Russian military aircraft have reportedly been shot down near the border region Russia shares with Ukraine. Should it be confirmed, the downing of the aircraft would mark an achievement for Kyiv as the war continues.
Russian news outlet Kommersant reported over the weekend that four aircraft belonging to the Russian military, made up of two fighter jets and two helicopters, was shot down in the Bryansk region near northeast Ukraine. The Russian news outlet TASS also reported that a Russian jet was shot down in the same region but did not indicate the cause. TASS, however, also cited a Russian emergency services official saying that an engine fire from a helicopter caused it to crash near Klintsy, 40 kilometers from the border.
A Russian Su-34 fighter jet, a Su-35 fighter, and two Mi-8 helicopters were “shot down almost simultaneously” from a clash in the Bryansk region close to northeastern Ukraine, the Kommersant report said.
“According to preliminary data…the fighters were supposed to deliver a missile and bomb attack in the Chernihiv region of Ukraine, and the helicopters were there to back them up – among other things to pick up the “Su” crews if they were shot down,” said the Kommersant report.
Kommersant did not provide any evidence to back up the report, but its report was also echoed by several pro-Russian military bloggers.
Meanwhile, a top Chinese envoy is set to travel to Europe, visiting Ukraine first and then Russia, in an effort by Beijing to reach a “political settlement” to the ongoing war. China’s envoy for Eurasian affairs, Li Hui, will also make stops in Poland, Germany, and France during their Europe trip, according to the announcement by the Chinese foreign ministry last week. Li’s visit aims to bring “in-depth communications with different parties for a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis.”
Li would also be the most senior Chinese official to visit Ukraine since Russia invaded last year, and the trip would coincide with the long-anticipated counteroffensive by Ukrainian forces to reclaim the territories Russia has seized or currently occupied.
Photo by Ngu.gov.ua/Wikimedia Commons(CC by 2.0)
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