INA FASSBENDER
- A Ukrainian official said Ukraine took out 5 Russian aircraft in May.
- The official said the planes were taken down using a Patriot missile system donated by the the West.
- Reports at the time mentioned the losses — two planes and three helicopters — but not the details.
A Ukrainian official said the country military shot down five Russian aircraft in five minutes in a frenzied counterattack in May of this year.
The official said the spree was carried out using a Patriot missile system, one of its most precious pieces of military aid from the West.
Ukrainian media outlet Novynarnia reported the claim, from Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat.
Ilhnat said that the five takedowns were two warplanes and three helicopters:
One Su-34 jet.
One Su-35 jet.
Two rare Mi-8MTPR-1 electronic warfare helicopters.
A regular Mi-8 helicopter.
He said the shots were fired over Russian airspace, in Bryansk Oblast, which borders Ukraine.
Reports at the time said Russia appeared to have lost at least 4 planes that day, an unusually high number. But it did not say how they were hit.
"According to preliminary data ... the fighters were supposed to deliver a missile and bomb attack on targets in the Chernihiv region of Ukraine, and the helicopters were there to back them up - among other things to pick up the 'Su' crews if they were shot down," reported the Russian daily newspaper Kommersant at the time.
Russia has launched airstrikes on the Ukrainian military from well behind the front line in the hope of evading air-defense systems. But Ukraine pushed its assets forward to counter them anyway, CNN reported.
Patriot systems have a range of around 100 miles, and are considered to be among the world's most effective air-defense systems.
Russian state-media reports and social-media footage at the time said the aircraft had crashed, without explaining why.
Ihnat said of the events that day: "It was a brilliant operation under the leadership of the commander of the Air Force. Thanks to non-standard decisive actions, the Patriot air defense units in five minutes immediately destroyed five aircraft on the Bryansk axis, from where they bombarded our northern regions with guided aerial bombs at the time."
Ihnat also claimed that a Patriot system was used to down a Russian warplane over the Black Sea shortly afterwards, leading Russia to reduce military operations in the region.
"And after that, they [the Russians] stopped flying there for a while, because they realized that it is dangerous there, they can be shot down. The Patriot complex presents such possibilities!" Ihnat told the publication.
The US and Germany provided Ukraine with Patriot systems last December, as Russia launched waves of attacks on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.