Satellite images and videos emerged early on Friday showing images of a purported Russian Su-25 being shot down by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Marinka, Donetsk, in Eastern Ukraine.
The video shows two jets flying low over Marinka before crashing. Loud explosion was heard and huge smoke emerged from the point where the plane crashed.
The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces confirmed the incident as reported by the Kyiv Independent, an English media company in Ukraine. The General Staff said that the Armed Forces of Ukraine brought down the Soviet-era Su-25 jet which was acting as a close air support aircraft as the Russian army continued with its land assault in the region.
The location of the incident has been confirmed to be near Marinka in Donetsk Oblast, where the Russian forces have concentrated their war effort in recent months.
A significant number of Ukrainian army is holding the defensive line in many parts of Donetsk, as more western weapons are being prepped for a major counteroffensive in Spring, possibly in the direction of Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson or Crimea in the South.
Meanwhile, Russian forces are allegedly forcing Ukrainians to take Russian passports in occupied towns in the country’s eastern and southern regions. After failing to take Kherson, Kharkiv and Kyiv, Russia’s president Vladimir Putin is now attempting to gain some victory in Eastern Ukraine. However, they can only manage a few miles in months of fighting.
Ukraine’s surrender hotline has also received over 3,000 requests for surrender from Russian soldiers in the month of March, which is double the number of surrender calls in the previous months.
