The Air Force of Ukraine announced today (Friday) that it managed to shoot down a Russian Tu-22 strategic bomber for the first time since the beginning of the war. In Moscow they claimed that the plane crashed due to a “technical fault” and that one of the crew members was killed. The commander of the Air Force, General Mykola Olenchuk, said that they managed to shoot down a Tu-22M3 long-range strategic bomber that the Russians use to launch Kh-22 cruise missiles.Also, two cruise missiles were shot down for the first time. “Ukraine needs more means and more missiles to better protect the frontline areas from Russian terrorism,” he said. The Intelligence Service of the Ministry of Defense provided additional details about the hit by the bomber. “An enemy Tu-22 plane was shot down about 300 km from Ukraine by the same means that were used to shoot down an A-50 command and control plane,” the message said. It was also said that the plane managed to fly to the Stavropol area where it crashed.
The Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed that the Tu-22 bomber crashed, but claimed that it was the result of a technical fault and that it had no ammunition. The governor of the Stavropol region, Vladimir Vladimirov, said that all the crew managed to eject themselves from the plane except for one who was killed and two who were evacuated to the hospital. A search is now underway for the fourth crew member.
During the Russian attack early in the morning, 22 missiles and 14 unmanned aerial vehicles of the Shahed model were launched and the Ukrainian Air Force said that most of them were shot down. However, at least nine people were killed, including three children, from missile strikes in the Dnepropetrovsk region in the southeast of the country. Some of the hits were in the area Dnipro railway station and several workers were injured.
