After the downing of a Tu-22M3 strategic missile carrier-bomber, another Russian plane was forced to turn around in the air, Radio Svoboda said on April 19 (the project “Freedom. Morning”) representative of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Andriy Yusov.
“A successful operation. An enemy strategic aircraft was destroyed. For the first time during a combat mission actually in the air during the period of a full-scale invasion. Destroyed during a combat mission. Another plane following him was forced to turn around. And this means that a number of missiles have not yet been fired over Ukraine,” Yusov said.
The representative of the GUR did not specify how exactly the Ukrainian military managed to destroy the Tu-22M3 on the territory of Russia, but he said that it was a certain repetition of the operation to shoot down the A-50 long-range radar tracking aircraft.
Remains of the downed Tu-22M3 aircraft in the Stavropol Territory, April 19, 2024
“In general, the operation was a certain repetition, taking into account, of course, the operation of the GUR of the Ministry of Defense to shoot down the A-50 plane, which took place recently. Yes, the distance is even greater this time. We will remind that it is about a distance of about 300 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. This is truly a landmark operation and a landmark result for Ukraine… In fact, the miracle weapon was not used here. These are old known methods. But modified by Ukrainian specialists,” Yusov insists.
He also added that the downing of a strategic bomber could reduce the threat to some Ukrainian regions.
“After the destruction of the A-50 and now, after the destruction of the strategic aviation plane, at least the intensity of missile attacks, as far as air-base missiles are concerned, in the direction of the Odesa region, may decrease for some time,” – noted the representative of the GUR.
The strategic missile carrier-bomber Tu-22M3, from which the Russian military carried out attacks on the territory of Ukraine, was destroyed by anti-aircraft missile units of the Air Force of the Armed Forces in cooperation with the Main Directorate of Intelligence, is going in the morning summary on April 19.
“This is a vendetta for the fact that Russian strategic aircraft attacked our peaceful cities today, where civilians died,” Radio Svoboda said on the air (program “Freedom. Morning”) Air Force spokesman Ilya Yevlash.
The Air Force reminds that the Tu-22M3 is “the carrier of Kh-22 cruise missiles, which Russian terrorists use to attack peaceful Ukrainian cities.”
The governor of the Stavropol region of the Russian Federation, Volodymyr Vladimirov, was the first to report about the plane crash, it happened at 6:57 a.m.
Later, it was confirmed that it was the Tu-22M3 strategic missile carrier-bomber that fell.