According to Reuters, Ukraine has shot down a Russian Tu-22M3 bomber using a modernized Soviet-made missile.
The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said that on the morning of April 19, Ukrainian air defense shot down a Russian Tu-22M3 long-range supersonic bomber 300 kilometers from Ukraine. Reuters sources told how the enemy aircraft was hit.
Ukraine shoots down a Russian Tu-22M3 strategic bomber with a modernized Soviet-era missile – Reuters. “The enemy Tu-22MZ aircraft was shot down at a distance of about 300 kilometers from Ukraine using the same means that had previously hit the Russian A-50 long-range radar detection and control aircraft,” the DIU said.
After being shot down, the bomber was able to fly to the Stavropol Territory, where it crashed in one of the districts. This is the first successful destruction of a Tu-22M3 long-range supersonic bomber in the air during a combat mission during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Militarnyi reports.
The Russian Ministry of War said that the bomber crashed in the south of the Stavropol Territory of the Russian Federation, hundreds of kilometers from Ukrainian territory, when it was returning to its base after a combat mission. Four Tu-22MZ crew members managed to eject, one pilot-in-command was killed, and a rescue operation was required for another occupant.
According to the Russians, the crash was caused by a technical malfunction. At the same time, a Ukrainian intelligence source told Reuters that a modified S-200 missile was used in the attack. The source did not specify which platform it was released from.
The S-200 is a long-range anti-aircraft missile system. The first versions, developed in the USSR in the 1960s, had a radius of 160 km. Over time, the complex has undergone several modernizations. The system is designed to combat aircraft, cruise missiles and drones at altitudes of 0.3-40 km flying at speeds of up to 4300 km/h and has a range of up to 300 km.
