After the emblematic cruiser “Moskva” then the “Cesar Kounikov”, have the Ukrainian forces just scored a new and strong material blow against Russia? This Friday, the Ukrainian Air Force announced that it had shot down a Russian strategic bomber. A first since the start of the invasion launched by Moscow. But what is this plane? How did it crash? 20 minutes tells you everything.
What is this plane ?
It is a Russian Tupolev Tu-22M3 long-range strategic bomber, carrying X-22 cruise missiles, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. Commissioned in the mid-1970s, 268 of these bombers were built.
According to Ukrainian forces, the aircraft shot down on Friday had “bombed” two towns in a central-eastern region where deadly nighttime strikes were reported. “This was the plane that bombed Dnipro and Kryvyi Rig,” said spokesperson Illia Yevlach. “We have avenged our cities and civilians,” he added.
What happened after kyiv?
“ For the first time, anti-aircraft missile units of the Air Force, and in cooperation with the Ukrainian defense intelligence services, destroyed a bomber,” the Air Force commander said. Ukrainian air on Telegram.
According to Ukrainian military intelligence (GUR), the Russian plane “was shot down as a result of a special operation carried out by Ukrainian defense intelligence in cooperation with the Air Force.” The impact in the air took place “at a distance of approximately 300 kilometers from Ukraine” thanks to “the same means as those which had made it possible to shoot down the Russian A-50 radar detection and control plane at Long range. The bomber was able to fly to the Stavropol region, where it crashed,” the source said.
What does Moscow say?
The Russian Defense Ministry has not confirmed Ukrainian fire targeting one of its planes, but an army source told state news agency TASS that a Tupolev-22M3 supersonic bomber was was “crashed in the Stavropol region after a combat mission, while returning to its base”. The aircraft had no weapons on board, according to this source.
The governor of the Stavropol region, in southern Russia, declared that a Tupolev-22M3 had crashed in this area after a “technical” incident, killing at least “one crew member”. “A plane fell in the fields in the Krasnogvardeiskii district,” Vladimir Vladimirov wrote on Telegram. “According to preliminary data, a technical failure was the cause of the accident,” he said, without giving further details.