Defence Minister Shoigu: Russian forces shoot down 24 Ukrainian warplanes in five days

The Russian Armed Forces started using new air defence systems in the zone of the special military operation in Ukraine. The number of Ukrainian warplanes that the Russian forces have shot down has increased during the recent days because of the new systems, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said.

Shoigu paid attention to significant losses among Ukrainian combat aircraft. The Russian military shot down 24 aircraft in five days, the minister said.

"We have complexes that shot down 24 planes in five days," Sergei Shoigu said.

Russia uses S-400 Triumf systems in Ukraine

Russian S-400 Triumf anti-aircraft missile systems operating in conjunction with the A-50 airborne early warning aircraft (AWACS), shot down 24 Ukrainian aircraft over the past few days in the zone of the special military operation, a source close to the Russian Defence Ministry told TASS.

S-400 Triumf systems detect and track such stealthy aircraft as F-22 Raptor, F-35 Lightning II and B-2 Spirit aircraft of the US Air Force.

The S-400 Triumf operates in concert with other air defence systems. Modern high-speed digital data processing technologies enables the rapid exchange of information related to target tracking.

According to Siemon Wezeman, a leading analyst at the Stockholm Peace Research Institute (Sweden), the S-400 Triumf air defence system is one of the most sophisticated air defence systems in the world.

Its radars operate within distances of up to 600 kilometres, whereas the range of S-400 missiles reaches 400 kilometres. This is a very accurate system that can track multiple targets including stealthy ones, the specialist said.