Watch: Dogfight, Russian flagship Su-35 Flanker-E downed over Kherson

 One of the latest Russian fighter jets and the flagship of the Russian Air Force, the Su-35 Flanker-E, was shot down during a dogfight with a Ukrainian fighter in the skies over Kherson, Ukraine. According to Ukrainian sources, the pilot managed to eject and survived. The pilot was evacuated from the crash site by Russian troops in the area.

Photo credit: YouTube

24/7 BulgarianMilitary.com – all you need to know about Ukrainian – Russian war

“Around 8:00 p.m. on July 19, a Russian fighter jet was shot down by the Anti-Aircraft Missile Troops unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Nova Kakhovka area,” the Ukrainian Air Force said in a Twitter post in Tuesday.

A video is being shared on social networks, which is said to have recorded the moment when the Russian fighter jet of the 4++ generation falls to the ground after the air battle with the Ukrainian plane. The Ukrainian Air Force does not say what kind of plane the Ukrainian pilot fought the dogfight with his Russian counterpart. Experts believe it was a Ukrainian MiG-29.

BulgarianMilitary.com recalls that just weeks ago, Slovakia decided to donate its entire MiG-29 air fleet to Ukraine [12 fighters], after receiving assurances from the Czech Republic that Slovak airspace would be protected by the Czech Air Force. Apart from Slovakia, Bulgaria is the other country that donated Su-25 fighter jets [14] to Ukraine, but according to sources, they were provided through a deal with a third country and in parts.

It’s not the first one

Photo credit: Twitter

The downed Su-35 fighter of the Russian Air Force on July 19 is not the first of this class to be shot down in the war in Ukraine. BulgarianMilitary.com recalls that in early April this year, the Ukrainian Air Force announced that it had shot down a Russian Su-35 fighter that was on the SEAD mission [Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses]. Then, the fighter jet was hit and shot down in the sky over the Izyum region in eastern Ukraine, about 120 km from Kharkiv. The pilot ejected but was captured by the Ukrainian armed forces.

On May 28, Ukraine claimed to have shot down another Russian 4 ++ generation Su-35 fighter jet. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, a battle took place over the skies of the Kherson region on May 27, in which the Ukrainian MiG-29 shot down a Russian Su-35, without specifying whether it happened in a close air battle or by using an air-to-air missile.

Ukraine claims

On June 22, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine presented the latest data on the losses that, according to the Ukrainian side, the Russian Armed Forces suffered during the ongoing war, which began on February 24 by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

Photo: Twitter

According to Ukrainians, the Russian army has lost since the start of the war: 216 aircraft and 182 helicopters [398 all together], 614 drones [all classes], 137 cruise missiles [probably shot down missiles], 1496 tanks, 3614 armored vehicles, other classes [wheeled armored personnel carriers, combat infantry machinery, etc.], 752 artillery systems [towed and self-propelled – it is not known whether this includes 120 mm mortars, destroyed or captured], 239 field missile launchers, 99 anti-aircraft sets [apparently without artillery division, missile, and artillery missiles], 2543 unarmored vehicles, 60 examples of “special equipment” [possibly tank wagons destroyed at the beginning of the war] and 14 vessels.

According to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, the armed forces of the Russian Federation have lost 34,230 soldiers [killed, seriously wounded, captured].

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

On 21 February 2022, the Russian government claimed that Ukrainian shelling had destroyed an FSB border facility on the Russia Ukraine border, and claimed that it had killed 5 Ukrainian soldiers who tried to cross into Russian territory. Ukraine denied being involved in both incidents and called them a false flag.

On the same day, the Russian government formally recognized the self-proclaimed DPR and LPR as independent states, according to Putin not only in their de-facto controlled areas, but the Ukrainian Oblasts as a whole, and Putin ordered Russian troops, including tanks, to enter the regions.

Photo credit: NYT

On 24 February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine by Russian Armed Forces previously concentrated along the border. The invasion followed by targeted airstrikes of military buildings in the country, as well as tanks entering via the Belarus border.

Russia has so far not recognized the invasion of Ukraine as a “war”, although that is exactly what it is, claiming that it is a “special military operation”. According to the UN, in which Russia has its permanent representation, for military action to be defined as a “special military operation”, it must have a resolution issued by the UN. There is no such resolution, which automatically defines the military actions of the Russians as an invasion and war against the citizens of Ukraine.