Ukraine Air Force comments of destruction of 3 Russian Su-34 fighters, gives their approximate cost
The spokesman for the Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Yuriy Ihnat, commented on Ukrainian national television on Dec. 22 on the destruction of three Russian Su-34 fighter-bombers on the southern front, calling it a "brilliantly planned operation."
"Once again, a brilliantly planned operation, in fact, the destruction of the enemy on the outskirts of our state, planned by the commander of the Air Force," Ihnat said, adding that this has "not happened for a long time" and such a fighter "has not been included in our positive statistics for a long time."
Russia has dozens of these aircraft and continues to produce them, as this is one of the newest aircraft of the aggressor state, which stands next to the Su-35.
The aircraft has a crew of two pilots, and these are the warplanes used by the Russian military to strike Ukraine with guided bombs, guided missiles, and other weapons.
One Su-34 fighter costs tens of millions of dollars, but this figure may vary from source to source.
"But such a machine cannot cost less than $50 million. This is the lowest price," Ihnat said.
Such fighters are "extremely technologically advanced," so they cannot be cheap.
Ukrainian defenders shot down three Russian Su-34 fighter-bombers in the south of Ukraine on Dec. 22.
The aircraft were destroyed at around noon. Oleshchuk called it a response to a nighttime "message" from the Russian military written on one of its downed kamikaze drones.
"They wrote on it: ‘Die, b**ches’," the commander of the Air Force Mykola Oleshchuk said.
Su-34 aircraft are carriers of guided bombs and X-59 missiles, which Russians are using to attack Kherson Oblast and other regions of Ukraine.
According to the Ukrainian military’s General Staff, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia has lost 324 warplanes and helicopters.
Russia is thought to have had 155 Su-34s before it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. More than 20 of them were reported shot down by Ukraine before today’s losses.
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