Eastern Europe: The Ukrainian military announced Saturday morning that it had successfully downed a Russian Su-35 multirole fighter jet over the Kursk region. The Ukrainian Air Force described the event as the result of a “successful operation” and hailed it as a strategic victory in its continued resistance against Russia’s ongoing invasion.
“This morning, on June 7, 2025, as a result of a successful Air Force operation in the Kursk direction, a Russian Su-35 fighter jet was shot down,” the military said in a statement published on its official Telegram channel.
The Sukhoi Su-35 is one of the most advanced aircraft in the Russian arsenal. A 4.5-generation multirole fighter developed as an evolution of the Su-27 platform, the Su-35 boasts powerful AL-41F1S engines with thrust-vectoring capabilities, state-of-the-art avionics, and a radar system that can detect targets at a range of up to 400 kilometers. Its ability to conduct air superiority and precision strike missions has made it a cornerstone of Russian air power, deployed widely in Syria and Ukraine.
The downing of the Su-35 carries both symbolic and tactical weight. Symbolically, it deals a blow to the perception of Russia’s aerial invincibility and bolsters Ukrainian morale at a critical juncture. Tactically, the loss of such a high-value platform diminishes Russia’s ability to maintain air dominance, especially as Ukraine increasingly deploys Western-supplied air defense systems.
Ukrainian military analysts point to growing competence in the use of Western-supplied systems such as the Patriot missile battery and NASAMS as key to recent successes in countering Russian air raids. While the exact method used to shoot down the Su-35 remains classified, speculation ranges from sophisticated ground-based missiles to advanced MANPADS (man-portable air-defense systems).
The shootdown comes amid a broader intensification of Russian air and missile strikes across Ukraine. In a pre-dawn barrage on Saturday, Russia launched an unprecedented 206 drones and nine missiles across Ukrainian territory, killing at least five civilians. This included a ferocious assault on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, described by its mayor as “the most powerful attack since the beginning of the full-scale war.”
Mayor Igor Terekhov reported that the strikes killed at least three people and wounded 17, including two children. The attacks leveled homes, damaged infrastructure, and left large swaths of the city without electricity. Kharkiv Governor Oleg Synegubov confirmed the scope of the damage and warned residents to brace for more attacks.
In southern Ukraine, the city of Kherson came under intense Russian shelling, killing a couple and damaging two high-rise buildings. Further attacks were reported in the regions of Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, Ternopil, and as far west as Lutsk, near the Polish border. Rescuers in Lutsk recovered a second fatality from strikes the previous day: a woman in her twenties.
The Russian onslaught appears to be a reprisal for a daring Ukrainian strike earlier in the week that targeted multiple air bases deep within Russian territory. Using long-range drones, Ukraine reportedly damaged several nuclear-capable aircraft, including those stationed in Siberia. These attacks have drawn sharp condemnation from the Kremlin, with President Vladimir Putin vowing revenge in a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump.
“The damage to strategic Russian assets is unacceptable and will be met with an appropriate and forceful response,” Putin reportedly told Trump.
The Kremlin has since framed the conflict as “existential” for Russia. Speaking on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “For us, it is an existential issue, an issue on our national interest, safety, on our future and the future of our children, of our country.”
Efforts to broker peace remain stalled. A flurry of high-level meetings between Ukrainian and Russian delegations, as well as a series of phone calls between Putin and Trump, have failed to produce significant breakthroughs. Despite this, Ukraine has offered a 30-day unconditional ceasefire, the latest proposal issued during peace talks in Istanbul on Monday.
Russia has rejected the offer. According to statements from Russian officials, Moscow demands the full withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from four regions it claims to have annexed—Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia—an end to Western military support, and a legally binding commitment that Ukraine will not join NATO. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has dismissed these as non-starters, referring to them as “old ultimatums.”
“We need real negotiations, not repeats of the same impossible demands,” Zelensky said in a televised address. “Our people are dying. Our cities are burning. If Russia truly wants peace, let us meet, President Putin, President Trump, and myself.”
Since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, the war has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions, creating the worst refugee crisis in Europe since World War II. Entire towns and cities have been razed. Infrastructure critical to civilian life—hospitals, schools, power stations—has been deliberately targeted, according to Ukrainian and international observers.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga took to social media to urge the international community to impose harsher penalties on Moscow. “To put an end to Russia’s killing and destruction, more pressure on Moscow is required, as are more steps to strengthen Ukraine,” he posted.
Western leaders have responded with varying degrees of urgency. The European Union issued a statement condemning the latest wave of Russian attacks and vowing to “accelerate the delivery of air defense systems and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.” In Washington, the White House said it was “deeply alarmed” by the intensity of Russian strikes and reiterated its commitment to “Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Amid the destruction, a rare moment of cooperation has emerged. The two countries are expected to carry out a major prisoner swap this weekend, involving hundreds of soldiers, including all wounded personnel and combatants under the age of 25. The exchange, agreed upon during the Istanbul peace talks, represents the only tangible outcome of recent diplomatic engagements.
International observers view the prisoner swap as a positive, if limited, development. “These exchanges show that even in a war as bitter and brutal as this one, there remains some space for humanitarian action,” said Helga Schmidt, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group.
However, most analysts warn that without a sustained diplomatic push, such humanitarian gestures will remain the exception, not the rule.
As the conflict enters its fourth year, neither side appears willing to make the concessions necessary for a comprehensive peace agreement. Ukraine, emboldened by battlefield successes and bolstered by Western support, insists on the restoration of its territorial integrity. Russia, still controlling roughly 20% of Ukrainian land, insists that its national security is at stake.
Military analysts caution that the war is likely to drag on well into 2026 unless a dramatic shift occurs in either military momentum or international mediation.
“We’re entering a phase of the war where every gain is tactical but strategically inconclusive,” said Colonel James Albright, a retired NATO advisor. “The shootdown of a Su-35 is a major tactical victory, but unless it translates into broader leverage at the negotiation table, the fighting will go on.”
