«He was responsible for the raids in Dnipro»

The Ukrainian military has claimed responsibility for shooting down a Russian Tupolev-22M3 strategic bomber over the Russian North Caucasus in response to Russia’s missile and drone attack on Ukrainian cities. «For the first time, anti-aircraft missile units of the Air Force, in cooperation with the defense intelligence of Ukraine, destroyed a Tu-22M3 long-range strategic bomber, a carrier of Kh-22 cruise missiles used by terrorists Russians to attack peaceful Ukrainian cities,” Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk said in a note on Telegram. Kiev claims that the Russian bomber was the aircraft from which the air raid launched which targeted Dnipro and Kryvyi Rig during the night, causing deaths and injuries.

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Bomber shot down, Kiev’s version

According to Kiev, the Tupolev-22M3 was the victim of “malfunctions that caused it to catch fire and crash due to the actions of the Ukrainian air defense forces.” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for the Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories, Iryna Vereshchuk, wrote this on Telegram.

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The Moscow version

Moscow’s version, however, is different. The Russian Defense Ministry said today that its long-range bomber crashed in Russia’s Stavropol region due to a technical failure, adding that one of four crew members died in the crash. Interfax reports it. “Available preliminary information indicates that the accident was caused by a technical malfunction,” reads a statement from the ministry. On board the plane “there was no ammunition” and the aircraft “crashed in an uninhabited area”, continues the note, according to which the Tu-22M3 crashed while returning to base after completing a combat mission. Three crew members managed to escape to safety. The death of the fourth crew member was confirmed by the governor of the Stavropol region, Vladimir Vladimirov, according to whom the accident occurred in the Krasnogvardeiskoye district.

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