UKRAINE CLAIMS IT SHOT DOWN A RUSSIAN STRATEGIC BOMBER; MOSCOW SAYS THE PLANE CRASHED

NEW DELHI: Ukraine's air force on Friday said that it had successfully shot down a Russian strategic bomber. However, Moscow officials countered this claim, stating that the plane had crashed in a sparsely populated area due to a malfunction after completing a combat mission.

In the past, Ukrainian claims of shooting down Russian warplanes during their more than two-year war have been met with silence or denials from Moscow.

Despite Russia's air force being significantly more powerful than Ukraine's, the sophisticated missile systems provided by Kyiv's Western partners pose a major threat to Russian aviation as the Kremlin's forces slowly advance along the approximately 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line in what has become a grueling war of attrition.

The Ukrainian report said the air force and military intelligence cooperated to bring down the Tu-22M3 bomber with anti-aircraft missiles. Russia commonly uses the bomber to fire Kh-22 cruise missiles at Ukrainian targets from inside its own airspace. The plane can also carry nuclear warheads.

The Russian defense ministry reported that the warplane crashed "in a deserted area" in Russia's southern region of Stavropol.

According to the ministry, three crew members were rescued after ejecting from the aircraft, and a search is underway for a fourth. However, Stavropol Gov. Vladimir Vladimirov stated that one of the rescued pilots had died.

Meanwhile, Russian missiles struck cities in the central Dnipro region of Ukraine, resulting in the deaths of eight people, including an 8-year-old girl, and injuring 25 others, as reported by local officials.

Russian forces carried out a combined aerial attack using 22 missiles of various types and 14 Shahed drones during the night, according to the Ukrainian air force. The air force stated that all fourteen Shahed drones and 15 of the missiles were intercepted.

(With agency inputs)