The spokesman for the military, Major General Igor Konashenkov, said that other targets were 24 bases of operations and areas of concentration of war material, while aviation and air defense systems shot down two Su-24 and one Su-25 fighter planes.

In addition, an Mi-8 helicopter that was heading to the Ukrainian city of Mariupol to evacuate the commanders of the nationalist Azov battalion was brought down.

In total, Russian forces have disabled 123 aircraft and 74 helicopters, 309 drones, 1,721 tanks and other armor vehicles, 172 multiple rocket launcher systems, 721 artillery pieces and mortars, as well as 1,568 military vehicles since the start of the operation in Ukraine.

Russia began a military operation in Ukraine on February 24, after authorities from the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics requested help to repel the increase in aggression from Kiev.

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