Soldier destroyed a Russian jet over Bakhmut, Ukrainian commander says
Soldier destroyed a Russian Su-25 jet over Bakhmut, Ukrainian commander says
From CNN’s Radina Gigova and Olga Voitovych
A soldier from Ukraine’s 93rd Mechanized Brigade destroyed a Russian Su-25 jet over Bakhmut, according to a commander.
The announcement comes after the head of Ukraine’s President’s Office, Andriy Yermak, also said forces from the 93rd Mechanized Brigade had shot down a Russian military plane near Bakhmut.
Commander Oleksandr Syrskyi of the Land Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said the Russian military “continues to unsuccessfully try to surround the city and advance.”
“The soldiers of the 93rd Brigade, along with other defenders, are holding back the enemy’s fierce pressure there. Due to their work, enemy tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, MLRS and ammunition depots are blown up,” Syrskyi said in a Telegram post.
“The occupiers are also putting pressure on the Kupiansk and Lyman directions,” he said, adding that soldiers from the 92nd Brigade have managed to destroy Russian radar systems and command centers in those directions.
CNN has been unable to confirm the Ukrainian claims.
2 killed in Russian shelling in Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukrainian official says
From CNN’s Olga Voitovych and Radina Gigova
Russian shelling killed at least two people and injured five others in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region on Wednesday, Serhii Lysak, the head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration, said in a Telegram post.
Two women, ages 62 and 57, were killed in the city of Marhanets, he said. According to preliminary information, a man and three women were hospitalized, and another injured woman will be treated on an outpatient basis, he said.
More than a dozen multistory buildings and several private houses in Marhanets were damaged in the shelling, the regional administration said in a separate post.
“One of them caught fire — rescuers have already extinguished the fire. A shop, a cultural center and a dormitory were damaged,” the regional administration said.
US not sure if Russian jet’s physical contact with drone was intentional, top military official says
Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley said the United States does not know if the Russian fighter jet intentionally hit the American drone over the Black Sea.
This is something officials are looking into, he said at a news conference Wednesday, adding that he has a call scheduled with his Russian counterpart to discuss that point, among other things.
“We know that the intercept was intentional, we know that the aggressive behavior was intentional, we also know it was very unprofessional and very unsafe,” Milley said.
As for the physical contact between the jet and drone “that remains to be seen.”
However, Milley said the US has “absolute evidence of the contact and the intercept.”
US officials have said two Russian jets dumped fuel on the US MQ-9 drone Tuesday in international airspace. Then, one jet “struck our MQ-9 aircraft, resulting in a crash,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.
Russia has denied that it had direct contact with the drone.
“There’s no question that that part of it’s intentional,” Milley said, referring to the jets dumping fuel on the drone. “The actual physical contact of the aircraft, that I’m not so sure.”
Source: https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/russia-ukraine-war-news-03-16-23/h_0ea20df159aec10dae49c244a6de0456
