having limited value due to the short duration of only several days. As the deployment overlapped with Russia's Defender of the Fatherland Day, the purpose may have been to support the president's state-of-the-nation speech. Additionally, deployment of the aircraft in a combat theatre may serve to enhance the aircraft's marketing. On 1 March 2018, the Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu stated that the two Su-57s had spent two days in Syria and successfully completed a trials program, including combat trials during which parameters of weapons work were monitored. On 25 May 2018, the Defence Ministry disclosed that during the February 2018 deployment to Syria, a Su-57 fired a cruise missile in combat, likely a Kh-59MK2. On 18 November 2018, the Defence Ministry posted an extended video of the fighters' flights, and announced that Su-57 performed 10 flights during its deployment to Syria. However, the video did not specify when the test flights took place. On 18 December 2019, the Chief of the Russian General Staff, Valery Gerasimov said that Russian Defence Ministry has once again tested the Su-57 in Syria, and all tasks have been successfully fulfilled. Entry into service On 25 December 2020, the Russian Defence Ministry announced that the Su-57 had entered service upon the delivery of the first production aircraft to one of the aviation regiments of the Southern Military District. 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine In May 2022, Russian sources claimed that Su-57 fighters were used two or three weeks after the start of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, striking targets with missiles outside of the zone of activity of Ukrainian air defenses, just like other Russian aircraft that are also restricted mainly to Russian airspace. In June 2022, RIA Novosti reported four Su-57s working in a network were used in SEAD role over Ukraine to identify and destroy Ukrainian air defense systems. The source also noted that its low radar visibility was demonstrated in combat. On 19 October 2022, Russian army general Sergey Surovikin, commander of all Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine, claimed that the Su-57 has been used both in air-to-air and air-to-ground role during the war in Ukraine and that it has scored kills in both roles. Subsequently, some Russian sources claimed the Su-57 shot down a Ukrainian Su-27 with a long-range R-37 missile. However, no evidence for these claims have surfaced. Commercial satellite imagery from late December 2022 shows five Su-57s