The UK’s Ministry of Defence (MOD) on Saturday said that a Russian strategic bomber was likely to have been shot down by Ukraine’s air force.

“This is the first instance of a strategic bomber being shot down by Ukrainian Air Defence Systems,” the MOD said in a post on social media platform X, formerly Twitter. 

The Russian Air Force lost a Tupolev Tu-22M3 supersonic heavy bomber on Friday and claimed the crash was likely caused by technical issues, while Ukraine claimed it had shot the aircraft down.

“It is highly likely that Russia has now sustained at least 100 fixed-wing combat aircraft losses to date,” the MOD said.

Russia‘s Izvestia newspaper on Saturday said that one of its military correspondents was killed in a Ukrainian drone strike in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region.

The publication said that Semyon Eremin and his film crew were returning from a reporting assignment to the front-line village of Pryiutne on Friday when they were attacked by several drones.

The paper said that Eremin was wounded and died as a result of his injuries.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova condemned the attack in a statement.

“We demand that international organizations and human rights structures immediately and decisively condemn yet another brutal murder of a Russian journalist,” she said.

Press freedom organization the Committee to Protect Journalists says at least 15 journalists have been killed covering the conflict in Ukraine.

The US House of Representatives is due to hold a long-awaited voteon a major aid package for Ukraine on Saturday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been making desperate appeals to his allies to provide more military help as resources and ammunition stockpiles dwindle.

Voting on the foreign aid and arms bill, valued at $95 billion (€89 billion), is expected to begin at 1 p.m. local time (1700 GMT/UTC). It includes around $61 billion in aid for Kyiv, as well as security assistance for Israel and Taiwan.

Russia‘s Defense Ministry on Saturday said that Ukraine launched a barrage of drones overnight and that air defenses managed to shoot down 50.

In the southern Belgorod region, situated near the Ukrainian border, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said that two people had been killed after their home caught fire following an explosion.

In the western region of Smolensk, regional governor Vasily Anokhin said that Ukraine had fired drones at a “fuel and energy facility” but they had been shot down.

“Air defense forces shot the aerial vehicles down. However, as a result of falling debris, a tank with fuel and lubricants caught fire,” Anokhin said.

The AFP news agency cited a source in Ukraine’s defense sector as saying that over eight regions in Russia were targeted and that three electrical substations and a fuel depot were struck.

Kyiv has been attacking Russian energy infrastructure in recent months in response to repeated Russian attacks on its critical 
infrastructure since the start Moscow’s invasion in February 2022.

kb/nm (AFP, dpa, Reuters)