DONETSK, July 23. /ITAR-TASS/. The militiamen of the self-proclaimed Donets People’s Republic (DPR) have shot down two strike fighters of the Ukrainian Air Force.

The Novorossiya agency reported on Wednesday that “the parachute of one of the pilots was found; he managed to hide in the forest”.

“Two Ukrainian military planes were shot down from MANPAD after the DPR militia positions near Saur-Mohila east from Donetsk were attacked,” the message says. “One plane was shot down near the point 185, the other near Dmitrovka. Both planes were downed with a MANPAD. One of the pilots landed in the dense foliage, the parachute was found, the pilot — not yet,” the agency quotes an eyewitness militiaman.

The spokesperson for the military operation Alexei Dmitrashkovsky confirmed that two planes of the Ukrainian Air Force have been shot down Wednesday.

According to available information, the Ukrainian army had 17 jet fighters, 35 attack planes and 33 bombers at the beginning of the armed operation in the east of the country.

Over the past month, militias have destroyed at least three Ukrainian Air Forces planes. In particular, July 1, a Su-25 was downed near Snezhny, and a Su-24 bomber near Luhansk.

June 14, a Su-25 that previously attacked the DPR militia staff in the building of Horlivka’s interior department, was shot down. June 3, the militiamen also reported about the elimination of a Su-25 assaulter near Semyonovka.