Russia Says Its Su-25 Fighter Jets Launched Missile Attacks On Ukrainian Military Positions

Russia has said that its Su-25 fighter jets have launched missile attacks on Ukrainian military positions.

The images appear to show a Russian fighter jet taxiing on a runway before it takes off along with a second fighter jet.

A formation of Russian fighter jets can then be seen flying over sunny, lush countryside before they unleash their deadly ordnance at unseen targets.

Planes can be seen flying low and firing more missiles before some of them can be seen coming in to land.

The images were obtained from the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Wednesday, 30th November, along with a statement claiming: "Su-25 attack aircraft provide direct support to ground units over the battlefield with direct line of sight of the target both day and night, and also destroy enemy targets with given coordinates around the clock and in any weather conditions.

"Performing another combat mission, the Su-25 pilots, acting in pairs, launched several missile attacks on the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from low altitudes, destroying camouflaged firing points, manpower and armoured vehicles of Ukrainian nationalists.

"The crews successfully completed the combat mission and returned to the base airfield, where ground support specialists quickly prepared the attack aircraft for a new flight.

"The pilots and technical staff of the operational-tactical aviation of the Eastern Military District spoke about the practical combat work."

The Russian MoD quoted an unnamed Su-25 pilot going by the call sign 'Precise' as saying: “When you work in the same rhythm for a long time, you get used to everything. When the enemy launches missiles at us, the wingman warns the leader, and also covers him. I would say it’s a matter of habit."

The Russian MoD also quoted the "head of the technical and operational part of the airfield", unnamed, as saying: "Special attention is required to control the equipment of the aircraft, ammunition and the closing of all hatches and hatches. If an emergency situation arises, there is a spare aircraft that is equipped and always ready for a combat flight."

We have not been able to independently verify the claims or the footage.

Russia invaded Ukraine on 24th February in what the Kremlin is still calling a "special military operation". Today marks the 280th day of the war.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that between 24th February and 30th November, Russia had lost about 88,880 personnel, 2,914 tanks, 5,872 armoured combat vehicles, 1,902 artillery units, 395 multiple launch rocket systems, 210 air defence systems, 280 warplanes, 261 helicopters, 1,562 drones, 531 cruise missiles, 16 warships, 4,429 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 163 units of special equipment.

Russia has claimed that its casualties have been much lower but provides infrequent updates on its latest figures.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has renewed his pledge that Ukraine will eventually become a member of the world’s biggest security alliance.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has called NATO a “criminal entity” and warned the Alliance against providing Ukraine with Patriot missile defence systems.

Medvedev said added: “If, as Stoltenberg hinted, NATO were to supply the Ukrainian fanatics with Patriot systems along with NATO personnel, they would immediately become a legitimate target of our armed forces.”

Ukraine’s state energy company Ukrenergo, has said that it is still struggling to restore power a week after Russian missile strikes hit power facilities across the country.

Artur Lorkowski, the director of Energy Community, an international organisation made up of the European Union and a number of non-EU countries, which are coordinating an emergency response to get Ukraine the spare parts it needs to survive the winter, has said that the energy situation in Ukraine is critical.

Lorkowski added: “They have some equipment which they stored before the war, but this storage is running out. The stored equipment will not to be enough continue the repair activities.”

Ukraine is reportedly in dire need of spare parts, with Russia targeting the country’s substations, in an attempt to fragment its grid “into small isolated units”.

Lorkowski said that transformers are the “top priority”, which are used in substations and “are being intensively targeted by Russia” to render the network incapable of transmitting “the output of [electricity] generation units for Ukraine.”

Roman Starovoyt, the Governor of the Kursk region in Russia has said that a power plant in Kursk was hit on Tuesday in multiple attacks that caused electricity outages

Starovoyt said: “In total, there were about 11 launches. A power plant was hit.”

Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the attacks.

China’s President Xi Jinping has said that he is ready to “forge a closer partnership” with Russia to “maintain international energy security”.

Xi said: “China is willing to work with Russia to forge a closer energy partnership, promote clean and green energy development and jointly maintain international energy security and the stability of industry supply chains.”

Germany’s Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann has said that his country contributed to the outbreak of Russia’s war in Ukraine by “adhering” to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline despite Russia annexing Crimea in 2014.

Buschmann added that Russian missile strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure were a “terrible war crime”.

He said he was “certain that at the end, we will see war crimes cases at the international criminal court against senior Russian leadership.”