Ukraine claims to have shot down Russian Tu-22M3 supersonic bomber

Ukraine claimed to have shot down this Friday a long-range Russian bomber used to launch cruise missiles, for the first time since the invasion began more than two years ago. “For the first time, anti-aircraft missile units of the Air Force, in collaboration with the Ukrainian Defense intelligence services, destroyed a Tu-22M3 long-range strategic bomber,” the Ukrainian army said in a statement published on social media. .

The Ukrainian military intelligence service, the GUR, said the aerial impact occurred “at a distance of about 300 km from Ukraine”, and that the bomber “was able to fly to the landing zone.” Stavropol“, in the south of Russia“where it fell”.

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The Russian Defense Ministry has not confirmed that one of its planes was the target of Ukrainian fire.

However, a military source told state news agency TASS that a Tupolev-22M3 supersonic bomber “He fell in the area of Stavropol after a combat mission, and when he returned to his base.”

According to the same source, the device did not have weapons on board.

Photograph of a Tupolev Tu-22M3 strategic bomber taken at the Alabino training ground near Moscow in April 2018. (Alexei Kudenko/ AP).

The governor of the region of StavropolVladimir Vladimirov, declared on the Telegram network that a Tupolev-22M3 crashed in the area due to a “technical” incident, and that at least one crew member died.

Two other crew members were found alive and rescue services were looking for a fourth member, he said.

Stravropol is an area located east of the annexed peninsula of Crimeascene of numerous attacks since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

In the Dnipropetrovsk region of east-central Ukraine, at least eight people, including two children aged six and eight, were killed and 18 others injured in overnight Russian shelling, according to the Interior Ministry.

The ministry warned that the number of victims could rise as searches continue in the rubble of residential buildings that were hit in the city of Dnipro and another nearby town, Synelnykove.

In total, Russia fired 22 missiles and 14 explosive drones on Friday morning at targets in Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian Air Force, which said it shot down 29 of the projectiles.

Source: Elcomercio