Moscow. May 2. INTERFAX-AVN - A Ukrainian MiG-29 fighter was destroyed in an air battle near Slavyansk, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.
"During an air battle in the area of Slavyansk, a Ukrainian MiG-29 fighter was shot down," Konashenkov said at a briefing on Monday.
Slavyansk is a city near Donetsk. The MiG-29 (NATO codification: Fulcrum) is a fourth-generation light fighter developed in the early 1980s. It is in service with more than 20 countries.
On May 1, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that the Russian military shot down two Ukrainian Su-24M bombers in the Kharkiv region. On April 30, Konashenkov reported that Russian air defense systems shot down a Ukrainian Su-25 attack aircraft in the Kherson region.
As Konashenkov said on Monday, during the day, Russian air defense systems destroyed 10 Ukrainian drones in the areas of the settlements of Veseloye, Borshchevo and Balakleya of the Kharkiv region, Kiselevka of the Kherson region, Mayak of the Zaporozhye region, Dokuchaev, Korsun and Khanzhinkovo of the Donetsk People's Republic, as well as near the city of Lugansk.
"Two Tochka-U tactical missiles were shot down near the Petrovskoye settlement of the Luhansk People's Republic and a Smerch rocket was destroyed in the Donetsk region," the official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry said.
He said that during the special operation, the Russian military destroyed 941 Ukrainian aircraft.
"In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 146 aircraft, 112 helicopters, 683 unmanned aerial vehicles, 281 anti-aircraft missile systems, 2,756 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 316 multiple rocket launchers, 1,234 field artillery and mortar guns, as well as 2,563 units of special military vehicles have been destroyed," he said. Konashenkov.
On February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree recognizing the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR). On February 24, Putin announced the start of a special military operation in Ukraine.
In response, many countries have imposed large-scale sanctions against Russia. A number of countries supply Ukraine with weapons and equipment.
The Russian army took control of the entire Kherson region, parts of the Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, Mykolaiv regions of Ukraine, a significant part of the territory of the LPR and DPR, the head of the National Defense Control Center of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mizintsev said on April 26.
