Ukrainian MiG29 fighter jet shot down – Russian MOD

Kiev has also lost two German-made tanks, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said

Russian forces have shot down a Ukrainian MiG-29 fighter jet, according to a statement released by the Russian Defense Ministry on Sunday. The ministry also reported that Kiev’s forces have lost several Western-made armor pieces, including a Bradley fighting vehicle.

“Seventeen counterattacks by the Ukrainian armed forces have been repelled. The enemy has lost more than 410 soldiers, two Leopard tanks manufactured in Germany, an infantry fighting vehicle, and three armored personnel carriers, including an M113 made in the United States” in Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), the statement read.

Kiev has also been stripped of “a 105-mm L-119 cannon manufactured in Great Britain.” 

In the DPR, Ukraine lost a total of 230 service personnel during two counterattacks that were repelled by Moscow’s forces, the ministry said.

A large number of Soviet-era MiG-29 warplanes have been delivered to Kiev by its EU backers since February 2022, when Moscow launched its military operation. 

Poland supplied Ukraine with several Soviet-era fighter planes in 2023, but Zalewski noted that until Warsaw receives US-made F-35 jets as a replacement, further deliveries are “off the table.”

However, in December, Polish Deputy Defense Minister Pawel Zalewski said Warsaw could not transfer its remaining jets to Kiev without compromising its own national security.

READ MORE: Moscow slams Kiev’s ‘deliberate murder’ of Russian journalist

The US and its allies have funneled over $100 billion worth of weapons, equipment, and ammunition to Ukraine since the conflict with Russia escalated in February 2022, while insisting that this does not make them a party to the hostilities. Moscow has repeatedly warned of the potential for escalation, while saying the weapons deliveries will not change the outcome on the battlefield.