Footage has emerged of the moment an alleged Russian jet was shot down over Ukraine’s second city Kharkiv earlier today.
Oleg Synegubov, the regional governor of Kharkiv, claimed that the Russian Su-25 fighter was destroyed by Kharkiv’s Air Defence Forces, which was later confirmed by the Kyiv Independent.
Video appears to show the plane erupt into a huge fireball as it is struck by two surface-to-air missiles (SAM) over Kharkiv’s city centre, before the twisted remains tumbled out of the sky and exploded again upon impact with the ground.
Ukrainian authorities confirmed the pilot managed to eject however, and is now being hunted down by Ukraine’s armed forces and territorial defence units in Kharkiv.
Synegubov said the plane was part of a squadron of between five and seven aircraft which have been conducting regular bombing runs over Ukraine’s second city.
Kharkiv is one of the cities worst-hit by Russian bombing campaigns in recent days, after Putin ordered his forces to engage in sustained shelling of several locations across the country.
Ukrainian soldiers can be heard cheering at the sight of their occupiers’ burning aircraft streaking falling out of the sky, as the nation’s armed forces continue to put up a bitter fight against the Russian onslaught.
But Putin’s indiscriminate bombing campaigns, which have brought death and destruction to residential and administrative areas of Ukraine’s cities, are set to continue through the night.
Video appears to show the plane erupt into a huge fireball as it is struck by two surface-to-air missiles (SAM) over Kharkiv’s city centre, before the twisted remains tumbled out of the sky and exploded again upon impact with the ground
Ukrainian soldiers can be heard cheering at the sight of their occupiers’ burning aircraft streaking falling out of the sky, as the nation’s armed forces continue to put up a bitter fight against the Russian onslaught
The burnt out remains of a building destroyed by Russian army shelling in the second largest Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, in the east of the country on March 6, 2022. Kharkiv is one of the cities worst-hit by Russian bombing campaigns in recent days, after Putin ordered his forces to engage in sustained shelling of several locations across the country
A man helps a wounded elderly woman to a building’s basement for shelter, after Russian troops shelled the area in the second largest Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, in the east of the country on March 6, 2022
A young woman reacts as she crouches near the lifeless body of a man killed in a Russian rocket attack in Kharkiv earlier today
Further footage from a CCTV camera installed in a building in Kharkiv shows the sky light up as the Russian plane is hit by two SAMs in quick succession.
The Su-25 aircraft is typically used to provide close air support to ground forces, but has also been used to deliver missile strikes and bombing raids.
Russia has racked up considerable losses since the invasion began, with the Ukrainian Armed Forces reporting late last night that they have downed a total of 44 Russian planes and 44 helicopters in the past eleven days.
The reported losses provide further evidence of Russia’s failure to gain air superiority – a tactical advantage that Putin thought would be achieved on the first day of the war.
The Armed Forces Air Command reported early this morning that one Su-25 fighter, two Su-34 fighter-bombers, two Su-30 SM planes, and three helicopters were shot down yesterday alone.
Dramatic footage showed the moment one of the helicopters was hit by Ukrainian territorial defence forces as it made a menacing low pass over a rural village about 25 miles from Kyiv.
The helicopter sustained a direct hit which sent brilliant orange flames bursting from the engine before the aircraft piled into the ground nose-first and exploded.
Further footage from a CCTV camera installed in a building in Kharkiv shows the sky light up as the Russian plane is hit by two SAMs in quick succession. The Su-25 aircraft is typically used to provide close air support to ground forces, but can also be used for delivering bomb and missile strikes
The Su-25 aircraft is typically used to provide close air support to ground forces, but has also been used to deliver missile strikes and bombing raids. Russia has racked up considerable losses since the invasion began, with the Ukrainian Armed Forces reporting late last night that they have downed a total of 44 Russian planes and 44 helicopters in the past eleven days (Russian Su-25 jet fighters pictured in September 2021)
While the vast Russian armoured column threatening Ukraine’s capital remains stalled outside Kyiv, Putin’s military has launched hundreds of missiles and artillery attacks on cities and other sites across the country in recent days in an attempt to bomb its neighbour into submission.
Day 11 of the invasion saw the devastating shelling of the port city Mariupol continue, despite an earlier ceasefire agreement between Russian and Ukrainian forces to allow residents to flee through a ‘safe corridor’.
Some 200,000 civilians were set to leave Mariupol, as well as a further 15,000 from Volnovakha, at 7am this morning (UK time) as part of the temporary ceasefire deal.
The refugees had five hours to flee the cities and evacuate westwards along humanitarian corridors, but just 400 refugees managed to flee Volnovakha before the ceasefire was shattered.
It is unclear how many – if any – families escaped Mariupol.
The total number of people fleeing Russia’s invasion reached 1.5 million in just ten days today, making it Europe’s ‘fastest growing refugee crisis’ since World War Two, the United Nations said.
A factory and a store are burning after been bombarded in Irpin, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, March 6, 2022
Many Ukrainian war refugees have taken a long and perilous journey to flee the destruction brought about by President Vladimir Putin – with 1.5 million crossing into neighbouring countries in 10 days, new stats have revealed
The International Committee of the Red Cross said: ‘Amid devastating scenes of human suffering in Mariupol, a second attempt today to start evacuating an estimated 200,000 people out of the city came to a halt.
‘The failed attempts yesterday and today underscore the absence of a detailed and functioning agreement between the parties to the conflict.’
Putin meanwhile has sought to pin the blame on ‘Ukrainian nationalists’ he said were responsible for breaking the ceasefire.
Elsewhere, heavily populated civilian areas in the town of Irpin, located on the outskirts of the besieged capital Kyiv, were hit by Russian bombs today, as US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken declared there are ‘very credible reports’ that Russia has committed war crimes during its invasion of Ukraine.
Irpin is a community on the edge of Kyiv, located adjacent to the town of Bucha where an entire convoy of Russian tanks and armoured vehicles were destroyed by Ukraine’s territorial defence forces last week.
But although Russia’s armoured convoys have thus far been unable to penetrate the capital, Putin’s troops have continued to rain down artillery fire on the capital and its suburbs.
