The Ukrainian Air Force said in a post on Telegram that it shot down the Russian aircraft at around 04:00 local time (04:00 local time) as the Su-34 was “conducting a terrorist attack in the city of Zaporizhzhya and dropped guided bombs”.These events have not yet been confirmed by independent sources.

According to the governor of Zaporizhia, Ivan Fedorov, despite the downing of the aircraft, one person was killed in the airstrikes in that region overnight, and two others were wounded. In the Vinitsa and Kirovohrad regions, infrastructure facilities were damaged by attacks with unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), according to local authorities.

The Su-34, a supersonic tactical fighter-bomber, was built during the Soviet era, but has been produced in series since 2006. To date, about 150 units have been built.

Slide bombs are one of the most important tactical weapons used by Russian forces against Ukrainian defensive lines. However, these bombs are often used against cities located at the rear near the front, according to DPA.

These bombs can be dropped from a distance of a few kilometers, making planes largely immune to air defense systems. Zaporizhia, in southern Ukraine, and Harkiv, in the northeast, are cities that have been hit with numerous glide bomb attacks during the Russian invasion, which has been going on for more than three and a half years, the German News Agency adds.