Ukrainian forces have shot down 5 Russian helicopters, destroyed dozens of tanks and captured dozens of troops in the first hours since Vladimir Putin ordered his military forces to invade the sovereign nation on Thursday.
Russia’s military is heavily superior to Ukraine’s, with the latter having an air force and air defense system dating back to the days of the Soviet Union.
NATO and Joe Biden have made it clear that they will only defend NATO member countries against Putin’s forces, and since Ukraine is not a member, no troops will be sent to help. Ukraine must endure on its own. The Ukrainian people will not forget this.
Battles were continuing in Kyiv be Thursday afternoon along the northern border against Belarus, also in Donetsk and Luhansk in the east and Kherson, the Dneiper River, and the port cities of Odessa and Mariupol.
No one believes Ukraine will come out of this in victory. This is expected to be a drawn out, brutal and bloody war. But as of Thursday evening, Kyiv’s forces have been able to inflict seriously heavy losses on Putin’s Russian forces.
The Russian attack hit Ukraine from all sides, with Russian forces dropping bombs and firing missiles on targets across the country. Troops attacked from Crimea, Belgorod, Belarus, and Donbass. Helicopters landed in Kyiv and at power plants on Dnieper River. The Russians even took over the infamous Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
On Thursday morning, Ukrainian forces said they shot down up to four Russian KA-52 Alligator attack helicopters in a battle for the Gostomel air base.
A fifth helicopter had to make an emergency landing in a field where that was under heavy fire.
By the midday mark, Kyiv’s skies were filled with a squadron of 20 Russian helicopters that blew up the air base’s runway.
Ukrainian ground troops launched a counterattack to take back the airfield while jets flew over the city, shooting down Russian choppers.
The Ukrainian forces also reported that their MiG jets shot down at least one Mi-8 helicopter, a medium twin-turbine helicopter, originally designed by the Soviet Union. The Mi-8 is commonly used as a transport helicopter, but the chopper can also be used as an airborne command post, armed gunship, and reconnaissance platform.
Ukrainian forces also said they shot down six Russian jets over Donbass while another plane appeared to fall from the sky near the capital.
Overall, the Ukrainian armed forces claimed to have shot down five aircraft and six helicopters.
The Ukrainians also declared they destroyed dozens of Russian tanks along the northern and eastern borders by the end of Thursday. On early Friday, forces took out two more along with a fighting vehicle in Trohizbenko to the tally early on Friday.
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry noted that the number was increased to over 30 by the end of Thursday and claimed they destroyed up to 130 armored combat vehicles.
A Russian MP fighting vehicle was captured, along with a crew consisting of four Russian soldiers, in the same region in eastern Ukraine.
Tank-busting rocket launchers that were donated by Britain were reported to have destroyed Russian tanks, while Javelin missiles donated by Sweden destroyed a column of enemy vehicles.
Fifteen T-72 tanks were badly damaged or destroyed by Ukrainian forces using the Javelin PTRK, which is an American anti-tank missile, near Glukhov.
I later saw Ukrainian military soldiers detaining troops from the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic after they were captured during an attack on the town of Schast’ye Thursday morning.
Estimates of casualties were low by early afternoon, but one Ukrainian official said the Russian death toll was around 50.
Rich is a conservative, syndicated opinion writer and owner of MAGA-Chat.com. He writes about politics, culture, liberty, and faith.
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