Russia claims destroying 132 aircrafts and 105 helicopters of Ukraine

MOSCOW

Russia has to date destroyed more than 100 aircraft and helicopters each and over 2,200 tanks and armored vehicles used by the Ukrainian army, a Defense Ministry spokesman said Friday.

Igor Konashenkov claimed military units prevented a missile attack by the Ukrainian armed forces on the Kahov Hydroelectric Power Station, saying that this “critical” facility regulates the flow of the Dnieper River, supplies electricity to the Kherson region, as well as supplies water to the agricultural regions in southern Ukraine and the northern regions of Crimea.

He said the Tokka-U missiles fired at the dam were shot down and fragments fell on the settlement of Novoya Kahovka, injuring a woman and a child.

Konashenkov, who said Ukrainian military targets were hit by high-precision missiles in the last 24 hours, confirmed that there were troops, weapons and arsenals among items that were hit.

He noted that the air force destroyed six Ukrainian military objects and cited “132 aircraft, 105 helicopters, 245 air defense missile systems and 457 unmanned aerial vehicles” belonging to Ukrainian military have been destroyed by Russia.

Additionally, 2,224 tanks and armored vehicles, 251 multi-barrel rocket launchers, 971 howitzers and mortars, and as many as 2,123 private military vehicles were also destroyed by Moscow, he said.

At least 1,982 civilians have been killed and 2,651 injured in Ukraine since the start of the war in late February, according to UN estimates, with the true figure feared to be much higher.

More than 4.6 million Ukrainians have fled to other countries, with over 7 million more internally displaced, said the UN refugee agency.

*Writing by Merve Berker