Ukraine has claimed its air defenses downed Russian Ilyushin II-76 aircraft carrying a landing force of paratroopers near Vasilkova south of Kyiv.
The report came Friday night from Ukrainian Armed Forces chief of general staff's official Twitter account, as Ukraine is expecting a full-scale assault on the capital of Kyiv to lead to a bloody battle for the control of the city into Saturday.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine's official Facebook page announced the strike with a translation of the war report in English.
''Our forces of the PPO knocked down il-76 with an enemy paratroopers in the area of Vasilkova,'' the Facebook post just before 6 p.m. Eastern time read. ''This is revenge for Lugansk 2014.
''Death to the enemies!''
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, tweeted about the report, asking how many casualties might have resulted.
The above reference to Lugansk 2014 is a reference to the reported more than 14,000 people killed in fighting between Ukraine's army and the Moscow-backed separatists since 2014.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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