Russia Says It Downed Two Ukrainian MiG-29 Fighter Jets in a Day

Russian forces shot down two Ukrainian MiG-29 fighter jets in the past day, Moscow's Defense Ministry said on Sunday, shortly after Kyiv reported a string of enemy aircraft losses over the war-torn country.

Two Ukrainian jets were "shot down" by anti-aircraft systems, the Russian government said in a statement, but did offer further details.

In updated figures, Russia's Defense Ministry said on Sunday that Ukraine had lost a total of 609 aircraft, as well as 274 helicopters, since February 2022.

Newsweek could not independently verify Russia's reports, and has reached out to the Ukrainian military for comment via email.

Kyiv's aging, Soviet-era fleet has spent more than two years pitted against Russia's more numerous and more advanced aircraft. At the end of 2023, Ukraine's air force had around 24 MiG-29 jets, also known by their NATO moniker, Fulcrum, in operation, according to the U.K.-based think tank, the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Ukraine has long requested Western-made F-16 fighter jets to replenish its losses and upgrade its capabilities, which several of its allies pledged to provide last year.

It is still unclear when exactly Ukraine will have the Lockheed Martin-made jets operational, with the timelines vague and prone to change. They are expected to arrive in the country in the coming weeks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Kyiv needs between 120 and 130 F-16s to combat Russia's fleet, however, the number of promised jets falls significantly short of this.

Before any Western countries agreed to provide F-16s, Ukraine received additional MiG-29s from Poland and Slovakia.

Kyiv, like Moscow, has targeted high-value assets such as aircraft throughout the war.

In a separate statement on Saturday, Ukraine's government said its forces had "destroyed" nine Russian jets throughout May 2024.

Kyiv's military and media reports, as well as Russian sources, suggested in mid-May that Russia lost a number of aircraft over Ukraine.

Ukraine's 110th Mechanized Brigade, operating in the east of the country, were credited by officials with downing several Russian Su-25 jets throughout May in the Donetsk region, where fighting has blazed on despite a new Russian push in the northeastern Kharkiv region.

In mid-April, the head of Washington's European Command and NATO's supreme allied commander in Europe, General Christopher Cavoli, said Russia had lost around a 10th of its aircraft stock in Ukraine.

Ukraine's armed forces said that, as of Sunday morning local time, Russia had lost a total of 357 aircraft since the start of Moscow's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

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