Russia claims to have shot down four Ukrainian military planes

Russia shot down 4 Ukrainian military planes?

The Russian Defense Ministry said on December 24 that its military had shot down four Ukrainian military aircraft in the previous 24 hours, just two days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Kyiv had shot down three Russian fighter-bombers.

In its daily bulletin, the Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down three Su-27 fighter jets and a Su-24 tactical bomber in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions, according to Reuters. The bulletin did not provide further details.

Chiến sự Ukraine ngày 669: Nga tuyên bố bắn rơi 4 máy bay quân sự Ukraine- Ảnh 1. — A Ukrainian Su-27 aircraft

Ukraine did not immediately comment.

On December 22, President Zelensky said that his country's forces had shot down three Russian Su-34 fighter-bombers on the southern front, hailing it as a success in the 22-month conflict. The commander of the Ukrainian air force also reported that the planes had been shot down.

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Fierce attack in Kherson

The leader of the southern Ukrainian province of Kherson said on December 24 that a Russian attack had killed four people and wounded nine within 24 hours in the frontline city that is the capital of the province.

Governor Oleksandr Prokudin of Kherson Oblast wrote on Telegram that Russian forces fired 71 shells at the city of the same name from December 23 to the morning of December 24. The attack targeted the city center, residential areas, medical and educational facilities, as well as “important infrastructure facilities.”

President Zelensky on December 24 condemned the attack, calling it a “brutal, terrorist, deliberate shelling of life-sustaining civilian infrastructure and normal streets,” according to a post on X (formerly Twitter). The leader said repair teams would “work around the clock to restore power and heat” to the city of Kherson after the attack.

Russia did not immediately comment but has always denied allegations of targeting civilians.

Ukraine regained control of the city of Kherson last November, months after Russia seized control of the city. The city, which lies entirely on the west bank of the Dnipro River, is now a frequent target of Moscow forces stationed on the east bank of the river.

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On December 24, the Ukrainian military also said that Russia had launched 15 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) into Ukraine, mainly in the south of the country, overnight. Ukrainian air defense forces destroyed 14 of them.

"As a result of the air combat, the Ukrainian Air Force and Defense Forces destroyed 14 Shahed UAVs in the Mykolaiv, Kirovohrad, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro and Khmelnytskyi provinces," the Ukrainian Air Force said on Telegram.

The UAVs were launched from Russian territory east of the Sea of Azov. Ukrainian authorities did not report any casualties or material damage.

Ukraine celebrates Christmas according to the "new calendar"

This year is the first time many Ukrainians will celebrate Christmas on December 25, instead of January 7, after the government changed the holiday amid the ongoing conflict with Russia.

In July, the Ukrainian government passed a law changing the date of Christmas from January 7 to December 25, the day most Christians around the world celebrate the birth of Jesus. The move was seen as another step in Kyiv’s efforts to “break away from Russia” as the two countries struggle to find a way out of the war in Ukraine.

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Orthodoxy, a major branch of Christianity, is the most widely followed religion in Ukraine. Most Orthodox churches around the world use the Julian calendar, which dates back to Roman times, instead of the Gregorian calendar used in everyday life. According to the Julian calendar, Christmas falls on January 7.

The Russian Orthodox Church has maintained a huge influence on religious life in Ukraine until recently.

Ukrainian official arrested on suspicion of embezzling money to buy artillery shells

Ukrainian police have arrested a senior defense official on suspicion of embezzling nearly $40 million in a fraud to buy artillery shells for the military.

The Ukrainian security service announced the arrest of the senior official on December 22, according to The New York Times . The identity of the official, from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, has not been disclosed.

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Ukrainian prosecutors say a Ukrainian Defense Ministry official inflated prices in a project to purchase artillery shells.

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