Russian authorities said the plane crashed over the southern Stavropol region due to a technical failure.
The Ukrainian Air Force announced that it had shot down a Russian strategic bomber with an anti-aircraft missile for the first time since the war began in 2022.
The fighter jet took part in a long-range airstrike over central Dnipropetrovsk on Friday, killing at least nine people, before being shot down in Russian airspace 300 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
The Defense Ministry said the plane was returning to its base in Russia after firing missiles into Ukraine overnight.
“For the first time, the Air Force's anti-aircraft missile forces, in cooperation with the Ukrainian Defense Intelligence Agency, destroyed a Tu-22M3 long-range strategic bomber,” the Ukrainian military said in a statement Friday.
Russia typically uses the bomber to fire cruise missiles at Ukrainian targets from within its airspace.
Russian authorities denied any Ukrainian attack and said the plane crashed over the southern Stavropol region due to a technical failure.
“A Russian military Tu-22M3 aircraft crashed in the Stavropol region while returning to its base airfield after performing a combat mission. The pilot ejected,” state news agency TASS quoted the Russian Defense Ministry as saying.
“According to preliminary data, the cause of the accident was a technical failure,” it added.
Stavropol Governor Vladimir Vladimirov said in a telegram that one of the four crew members died in the incident and two were taken to hospital. He added that the search for the fourth member continues.
Al Jazeera's Charles Stratford, reporting from the Ukrainian capital Kiev, said Ukraine attacked these bombers last August, but the bombers were on the ground.
“It is impossible to independently verify this, but this suggests that despite the Ukrainians' demands for increased air defenses, they still do not have the ability to shoot down jets, bombers, and missiles that appear to be at considerable distances. “It seems to show that we have it,” he said. .
Russian airstrikes have killed at least nine people and injured at least 28 in the eastern city of Dnipropetrovsk and surrounding areas.
The strike damaged residential buildings and a major railway station.
“A child seriously injured in a large-scale enemy attack on the Dnipropetrovsk region died today in a hospital. The death toll has increased to nine, including three children,” the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine said on Friday. said in a statement on Telegram.
Interior Minister Ihor Klimenko said in a separate Telegram post that the number of victims is expected to rise further as debris from the damaged buildings continues to be cleared.
The region's governor, Serhiy Lysak, told Ukrainian television that air defense forces had shot down 11 of 16 missiles and nine of 10 drones that hit the region.
After the attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy reiterated an urgent call for the country's Western allies to supply air defense systems.
“All countries providing air defense systems to Ukraine, persuade partners that air defense systems should not be stored in warehouses, but be deployed in real cities and communities facing terrorism.” Every leader who helps us and everyone who supports our defense is a lifesaver,” Zelenskiy said on social media.
Rescue operations are underway in Dnipropetrovsk following a Russian attack. Several floors of a typical residential building were destroyed, and a railway station was also damaged.
Krivi Rikh and Sinelnikove in the Dnipropetrovsk region were also targeted. All injured… pic.twitter.com/t0zX4TwJhY
— Volodymyr Zelensky / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) April 19, 2024
On Thursday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters that the alliance also wants to send more air defense systems to Ukraine as soon as possible.
“We are working on the following possibilities. [dispatching] Also, Patriot batteries to Ukraine. We are in dialogue with some specific countries.”
The United States, one of Ukraine's biggest suppliers of military aid, is expected to vote this weekend on a long-delayed $61 billion aid package.
