Kyiv [Ukraine], May 4: Ukraine said on Saturday it had shot down a Russian fighter jet near the Russian port city of Novorossiysk using a naval drone.
The Russian Su-30 jet was hit by a missile and crashed into the sea, Ukrainian military intelligence said, publishing a video of the alleged launch over the Black Sea.
Russian military bloggers confirmed the incident, saying the pilots survived the crash and were rescued by a civilian ship. However, Moscow has not officially confirmed the jet was brought down. The Ukrainian account could not initially be independently verified.
If the downing of the jet is confirmed, this would be the first time the Ukrainian armed forces have brought down a Russian jet with a naval drone.
In December, Ukrainian military intelligence said it had shot down two Russian helicopters using naval drones.
Earlier, Kiev's forces attacked a series of targets on the Black Sea coast with drones.
Krasnodar Governor Veniamin Kondratyev wrote on Telegram that the region came under attack, with the city of Novorossiysk particularly badly hit. There had been a fire at a grain terminal and damage to three blocks of flats, he said.
According to the Novorossiysk mayor, Andrei Kravchenko, five people were injured, including two children.
The Russian Defence Ministry said that 170 Ukrainian drones had been intercepted over five Russian regions and the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed in 2014.
The military data cannot be verified in detail, but the numbers allow conclusions to be drawn about the scale of the attacks.
As part of its defence campaign, it also repeatedly attacks targets in Russia. The damage and casualties are far smaller than the devastating consequences of the Russian attacks on Ukrainian territory.
Ukrainian authorities in the city of Kharkhiv said overnight that almost 50 people had been injured in a large-scale attack.
Regional military administrator Oleh Syniehubov said that Russia used 11 bombs and 52 drones of various types to hit the Kharkhiv region.
Source: Qatar Tribune
