Russia claims it shot down two Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drones belonging to Ukrainian armed forces.
The claim was announced via a telegram account belonging to the People’s militia of the self-declared Lugansk People’s Republic
According to the account, the drones were shot down near the village of Schastye, north of Luhansk.
The account followed up with an announcement that another Ukrainian drone was shot down near the village of Lozovoe, and that Ukrainian soldiers are evacuating civilians from Schastye.
The announcement follows further claims about Ukrainian losses, such as two Ukrainian Air Force Sukhoi Su-24 strike aircraft having been shot down 20 minutes earlier. It also comes at least two hours after Russian Defense Ministry announced that Ukrainian air defenses had been disabled by high-precision weapons.
“Military infrastructure, air defense facilities, military airfields, and aviation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are being disabled with high-precision weapons,” a Russian defense ministry statement said.
Ukrainian military did not issue an official comment regarding the Russian claims. However, it announced that numerous Russian military aircraft were shot down over the country’s territory following reports of mass airstrikes across Ukraine.