Ukraine has shot down 70 Russian jets; Russian protester imprisoned for ‘fake news’: Live updates

An estimated 60 Ukrainian aircraft have been downed since Russia’s invasion began a year ago, but Moscow has lost more than 70, the top U.S. Air Force commander in Europe said.

Gen. James Hecker, speaking at the Air and Space Forces Association’s Warfare Symposium in Aurora, Colorado, said that Russia’s larger air force failed to establish air superiority in the early days of the war and that a virtual stalemate now exists in the skies, Air and Space Forces Magazine reports.

“Russian, as well as the Ukrainian, success in integrated air and missile defense have made much of those aircraft worthless,” Hecker said. “Both of their integrated air and missile defense, especially when you’re talking about going against aircraft, they’ve been very effective. And that’s why they’re not flying over one another’s country.”

Russian air defenses are located in Russia, Belarus and parts of occupied Ukraine, he said. That will make it difficult for Ukraine to use air power in a counteroffensive the Ukrainians are planning for spring and summer. Hecker said the U.S. is providing AGM-88 HARM anti-radiation missiles, jerry-rigged to work with the country’s Soviet-designed fighters.

“Obviously, they’re not as integrated with the airplane as it would be if they’re on the U.S. aircraft, so they do have limitations,” Hecker said. “But they’re doing a pretty good job.”

‘WE WILL FIND THE KILLERS’: Outrage over video showing Ukrainian soldier’s apparent execution; military wants to defend Bakhmut

Developing:

►130 Ukrainian prisoners, most of them with serious injuries, were returned by the Russians, Ukraine presidential spokesman Andriy Yermak said. Russia announced that 90 of its soldiers had been released.

►Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak said 10 more German-made Leopard 2 tanks will be delivered to Ukraine in the coming days. Four of the first 14 tanks promised by Poland already have been delivered; Poland says it will send 60 more in coming months. More than 300 tanks have been promised to Ukraine from Western allies.

►Drones have been banned in 28 Russian regions since a spate of what appeared to be Ukrainian drone attacks last month across much of the country – including within 60 miles of Moscow.

►Fewer than 4,000 civilians remain in the embattled city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Tuesday. The industrial city was home to more than 70,000 before the war.

Ukrainian ambassador says country will ‘defend every inch’ of its territory

With the Russian military refusing to relent in its assault on Bakhmut, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States reiterated Tuesday that the embattled nation is committed to protecting all of its land.

“We will defend every inch of our territory because defending our territory and actually liberating it is a priority. Because we need to not only restore the territorial integrity but we need to save lives,” Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Markarova told USA TODAY. 

Markarova said the Ukrainian military has demonstrated it is “very capable and effective,” and that while it sometimes makes “tactical movements on the ground,” the goal is to liberate all of Ukraine’s citizens from occupied areas.

“We are in awe of how our brave defenders are defending everything, we are at awe (of) how the ‘fortress Bakhmut,’ as we call it, stands for such a long time,” she said. “We trust our military commanders and the president as our supreme commander in this war.”

— Francesca Chambers

Ukrainian military tentatively identifies soldier shot in grisly video

The unarmed man seen apparently getting shot to death by Russian speakers in an unverified video that has sparked outrage was tentatively identified Tuesday as a missing Ukrainian soldier.

The Ukrainian military’s general staff said his name was Tymofii Shadura but added the identification is based on preliminary information. Shadura had been missing for just over a month, since disappearing during fighting in the Bakhmut area of the eastern Donetsk province, the 30th Mechanized Brigade said on a Facebook post.

Ukrainian officials have denounced the killing as a war crime, and the country’s top  prosecutor announced a criminal investigation.

In the unauthenticated 12-second clip, which has been circulating widely on social media, the uniformed soldier is seen standing in a wooded area and smoking a cigarette.

Someone off-camera is heard speaking in Russian. The man then says, “Glory to Ukraine” and is hit by gunshots, falling into a shallow hole in the ground. A voice then says, “Die” and an expletive in Russian.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was among those expressing indignation over the video, saying Monday, “I want us all together, in unity, to respond to (the soldier’s) words: ‘Glory to the hero! Glory to heroes! Glory to Ukraine!’ And we will find the killers.”

The Russian military did not immediately reply to questions about the video from The Associated Press. 

Russian defense minister: Bakhmut is crucial for control of Donbas

Taking control of Bakhmut – known as Artemovsk in Russia – would allow Russian forces to advance deep inside the Donbas region of Ukraine that President Vladimir Putin covets, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Tuesday. Shoigu was explaining why Russia was fighting so long and hard for the relatively small city. Russia has lost thousands of soldiers and extensive military hardware trying to seize Bakhmut but has failed to encircle the city.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday night that his military commanders were unwilling to retreat from the city, adding that he and other top Ukrainian leaders “unanimously supported this position.”

Russian protester sentenced to more than 8 years in prison for ‘fake news’

A Moscow court sentenced a student activist to 8½ years in prison for social media posts criticizing Russia’s war in Ukraine as the Kremlin stepped up its crackdown on dissent fueled by the invasion. Dmitry Ivanov, 23, was convicted of spreading false information about the Russian army, a criminal offense under a new law.

Prosecutors described as “fake news” Ivanov’s posts accusing the military of murdering Ukrainian civilians and destroying civilian infrastructure. Ivanov also refused to use Putin’s term –  “special military operation” – instead of “war.”

The case drew added interest because the judge approved a defense request to issue summons for Ministry of Defense Igor Konashenkov and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, whose words Ivanov contradicted. They never appeared in court, however.

US providing Ukraine with bombs that extend strike capability

The U.S. has begun supplying Ukraine with JDAM precision-guided bombs that have extended the Ukrainians’ strike capability, Hecker said. He said that allows Ukraine to hit targets beyond the range rockets fired by the HIMARS launchers that have drawn rave reviews from military experts. The bombs have a range of nearly 50 miles; the U.S. has declined to provide Ukraine with long-range ATACMS missiles, which have a range of nearly 200 miles.

“We’ve just got them some precision munitions that had some extended range and can go a little bit further,” Hecker said. “That’s a recent capability that we were able to give them probably in the last three weeks.”

Ukraine has asked for U.S. fighter jets such as F-16s, but the Biden administration has declined to provide them.

Contributing: The Associated Press