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KYIV, Ukraine — One of many handful of F-16 warplanes that Ukraine has acquired from its Western companions to assist struggle Russia’s invasion has crashed, Ukraine’s air power mentioned Thursday.
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The fighter jet went down on Monday, when Russia launched a serious missile and drone barrage at Ukraine, a army assertion posted on Fb mentioned. 4 of these Russian missiles had been shot down by F-16s, the assertion mentioned.
The crash was the primary reported lack of an F-16 in Ukraine, the place they arrived on the finish of final month. Not less than six of the warplanes are believed to have been delivered.
The Defence Ministry has opened the investigation into the crash.
Earlier Thursday, Russia carried out a heavy aerial assault on Ukraine for the third time in 4 days, once more launching missiles and scores of drones that principally had been intercepted, Ukraine’s air power mentioned.
Russian forces fired 5 missiles and 74 Shahed drones at Ukrainian targets, an air power assertion mentioned. Air defences stopped two missiles and 60 drones, and 14 different drones presumably fell earlier than reaching their goal, it mentioned.
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Authorities within the capital, Kyiv, mentioned particles of destroyed drones fell in three districts of town, inflicting minor harm to civilian infrastructure however no accidents.
Russia’s relentless and unnerving long-range strikes on civilian areas have been a characteristic of the battle because it invaded its neighbour in February 2022.
Ukrainian officers have just lately change into extra vocal of their long-standing insistence that Western nations supporting their battle effort ought to scrap restrictions on what Ukraine is allowed to focus on inside Russia with long-range weapons they’ve supplied.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy renewed his pleas for Western allies to untie his arms in deciding what to strike on Russian soil.
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“All our companions must be extra energetic — way more energetic — in countering Russian terror,” Zelenskyy mentioned late Wednesday. “We proceed to insist that their dedication now — lifting the restrictions on long-range strikes for Ukraine now — will assist us to finish the battle as quickly as potential in a good method for Ukraine and the world as an entire.”
The European Union’s prime diplomat on Thursday backed Zelenskyy’s push for worldwide backers to finish their limits.
Ukraine has deployed domestically produced drones to strike Russia.
The Russian army mentioned Thursday it had thwarted an in a single day assault on Crimea. The Russian Defence Ministry mentioned its forces destroyed three Ukrainian sea drones aimed on the Black Sea peninsula that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
The Russia-installed governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhayev added that 4 Ukrainian aerial drones and three sea drones had been destroyed “at a big distance” from the peninsula’s shore.
Within the meantime, Ukraine’s Military Normal Employees acknowledged Thursday Ukraine’s involvement in strikes this week on oil depots deep inside Russia, the place blazes broke out.
The assaults within the Rostov and Kirov areas had been a part of Ukraine’s effort to disrupt logistical infrastructure supporting Russia’s battle machine.
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