Russia Claims It Destroyed Ukraine's Famous Drone Killer Yak-52

Russia said Tuesday that it destroyed a Ukrainian Yakovlev Yak-52 aircraft, which has been used by Kyiv's forces in the war to shoot down Russian drones.

"Over the course of the day, air defense systems shot down six U.S.-made ATACMS operational-tactical missiles, two French-made 'Hammer' guided air bombs, seven U.S.-made HIMARS rockets, 28 unmanned aerial vehicles [UAVs], and a Ukrainian Yak-52 aircraft with a machine gun mount," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Russia and Ukraine are both suffering significant losses of its troops and equipment amid intense fighting in Ukraine's east. Moscow kick-started an offensive in the Kharkiv region on May 10, seizing a number of villages on Ukraine's northeastern frontier, but that effort has since slowed.

Russia's Defense Ministry didn't specify where the Ukrainian Yak-52 aircraft was downed. Newsweek reached out to Russian and Ukrainian authorities via email for comment.

The pro-war Russian Military Informant Telegram channel said Tuesday that a Russian missile strike may have struck a facility in Ukraine's southwestern Odesa region, which housed a Yak-52, which is used by Kyiv's military to intercept enemy spy drones.

Earlier this month, a Russian military blogger described how Ukraine was using the aircraft to shoot at drones.

"No, this is not footage from World War II, nor is it from the game 'IL-2 Sturmovik,' and it's not even scenes from the new 'Top Gun' movie with Tom Cruise......this is just the enemy, represented by the Ukrainian Air Force, appearing in the viewfinder of our UAV on a twin-seat, single-engine, training sports aircraft Yak-52, which they are using either as an interceptor aircraft or as a mobile anti-aircraft platform," the military blogger wrote on Telegram.

"How are they using it? The second person in the plane is a Ukrainian with a double-barreled shotgun, firing at our UAV like it's a shooting gallery. As ridiculous as it sounds, in the Kherson direction, the enemy has already shot down two UAVs," the channel said.

The Russian Defense Ministry also said in its update on Tuesday that its military has destroyed 628 Ukrainian aircraft, 277 helicopters, 27,650 UAVs, 552 anti-aircraft missile systems, 16,594 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1,378 multiple-launch rocket systems, 11,982 pieces of field artillery and mortars, and 23,739 units of special military vehicles so far.

The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces, which posts figures on Russia's troop and equipment losses as part of its daily update on the war, said Russia lost 44 artillery systems in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 15,368.

Moscow has also lost 15,862 armored combat vehicles, 8,227 tanks, 20,680 vehicles and fuel tanks, 361 military jets, 326 helicopters, and 28 warships in the ongoing war, Kyiv's military said in its update on Tuesday.

Newsweek has not independently verified these figures.

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