The Ukrainian army has destroyed a Russian A-50 surveillance plane, Air Power Commander Mykola Oleshchuk stated on February 23 after Ukrainian army and regional officers stated that a minimum of 5 folks have been killed and 27 others have been wounded in a brand new spherical of Russian drone and missile strikes on a number of Ukrainian areas.
”The A-50 with the decision signal ’Bayan’ has flown its final!” Oleshchuk wrote on Telegram. “Congratulations to the occupiers on the Defender of the Fatherland day,” Oleshchuk stated, referring to a Russian army vacation on February 23.
Ukrainian army intelligence stated the aircraft was downed over the Sea of Azov, calling the lack of the spy aircraft ”one other severe blow to the potential and capabilities of terrorist Moscow.”
Movies posted on social media confirmed a number of flashes of sunshine in opposition to the evening sky adopted by one other picture exhibiting a big blaze on the bottom in what gave the impression to be a rural space.
The Russian army did not touch upon Ukraine’s declare, however emergency authorities in Russia’s Krasnodar area stated firefighters have been responding to a aircraft crash.
If confirmed, the aircraft’s downing would mark the lack of the second A-50 in simply over a month. The opposite one was introduced down over the Sea of Azov on January 14, Ukrainian officers stated then. The Russian army by no means commented on the Ukrainian declare, however Russian bloggers and a few media confirmed the plane’s loss.
Specialists have stated Russia may wrestle to switch the A-50 due to U.S. and European sanctions. Among the aircraft’s crucial {hardware} is produced by Intel and different Western producers.
Even when Russia may get across the sanctions, it is likely to be troublesome for its armed forces to switch the ten to 11 crew males who function the A-50’s monitoring gear as a result of it takes years to coach such specialists.
The A-50, able to relaying info to troops on the bottom about battlefield actions as much as 650 kilometers away, reportedly prices $330 million. Media reviews counsel that Russia could have seven A-50s left in operation. Belarusian partisans in February 2023 claimed to have blown up an older-version of the aircraft.
The Common Workers of the Ukrainian army stated in its night abstract on February 23 that Ukrainian forces held again Russian troops alongside all the entrance line. The abstract stated that there have been 58 fight clashes on the entrance line in the course of the day.
Ukraine’s armed forces are holding again the Russian assaults, notably within the space round Maryinsk, the place Russian troops tried to interrupt by means of the defenses 31 occasions, the Common Workers stated, noting air strikes in different components of the Donetsk area.
The Common Workers stated that the armed forces had additionally repelled six assaults within the space of Bakhmut and 9 assaults within the space of Avdiyivka.
The claims couldn’t be independently verified.
Earlier on February 23, Ukrainian air defenses shot down 23 out of the 31 drones launched by Russia on the Odesa, Mykolayiv, Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kharkiv areas, the air drive stated in an announcement.
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Moreover, Russia launched an S-300 antiaircraft missile and three Kinzhal cruise missiles at Ukrainian targets.
Within the southern Ukrainian port metropolis of Odesa, the particles from a Russian drone fell on a constructing within the coastal space, killing three folks, the army stated.
In Dnipro, the capital of the central Dnipropetrovsk area, a drone hit a high-rise residence constructing, killing one girl and wounding eight, regional Governor Serhiy Lysak reported on Telegram.
Rescuers retrieved the lady’s physique from the rubble of a home broken by the in a single day drone assault Lysak stated.
In Dnipro, the capital of the central Dnipropetrovsk area, a drone hit a high-rise residence constructing, wounding eight folks, regional Governor Serhiy Lysak reported on Telegram.
Within the jap area of Donetsk, a 68-year-old man was killed in a missile strike within the metropolis of Myrnohrad, Oleksiy Kuleba, the deputy head of the workplace of the president, stated on Telegram.
Greater than 20 homes and an residence constructing have been additionally broken within the strike, Kuleba stated.
The Donetsk area’s governor, Vadym Filashkin, stated a minimum of 19 folks have been wounded within the strike.
Because the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine nears the two-year mark, the nation’s infrastructure has sustained nearly each day destruction.
Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov estimated that it will take as much as a decade to rebuild Ukraine even when the struggle have been to finish now.
”I believe probably the most pressing injury might be repaired in two or three years. However general it will take 5 to 10 years,” Kubrakov instructed the German information company dpa.
He cited figures superior by the World Financial institution, the European Union, and the United Nations that put the price of the struggle injury thus far at 500 billion euros ($541 billion).