Ukraine’s military announced on Friday that it had shot down a Russian long-range strategic bomber used to launch cruise missiles on cities across the country, in a development marking the first of its kind since the Russian invasion.
In a statement posted on social media, the army said, “For the first time, anti-aircraft missile units, in cooperation with Ukrainian military intelligence, destroyed a long-range strategic bomber of the Tu-22M3 model.”
Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleksyuk stated that Ukrainian air defenses had downed a Russian strategic bomber of the Tu-22M3 model carrying Kh-22 cruise missiles.
The same source explained that during a Russian attack last night, this model was downed for the first time with two C200 missiles. According to experts, this incident marks a significant shift in the performance of Ukrainian air defense systems.
The Ukrainian army also announced intercepting 15 missiles and 14 attack drones launched by Russia in various parts of Ukraine last night.
In a related development, authorities in the Dnipropetrovsk region in central Ukraine reported the death of at least 8 people and the injury of 25 others in Russian shelling targeting the area overnight.
