Russians continue recon work along entire front line - Air Force spox
The spokesman for Ukraine’s Air Force Command Yuriy Ihnat says the Russians pursue reconnaissance efforts in various areas along the entire front line.
He said this on the air of the national telethon, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
Ihnat commented on the frequent air raid alerts the day before, noting that "unfortunately, the front-line zones hear these alerts almost hourly amid ongoing shelling by various types of weapons - we are talking about artillery and air strikes, as well as drones."
"Yesterday, enemy UAVs were especially active but you know that even if it is a reconnaissance UAV of various types, the alert will go off in any case because they will be intercepted and debris will plunge to the ground," Ihnat said.
At the same time, he noted that more often the air raid alert is declared because of missile threat in the frontline regions and in the eastern areas.
"Yesterday, we already reported that five unmanned aerial vehicles, including a Lancet, were shot down by the Air Force... Today we already reported that a drone was shot down over Kyiv region. That is, the enemy continues reconnaissance work in various areas along the entire front line. Last night, the attack was marked by a powerful strike by Tu-22 M3 long-range bombers, two of which took off from the Engels airfield and five - from Shaykovka. (…) We know how powerful this terrorist missile is, without exaggeration, because it is intended for a completely different purpose," Ihnat said.
He recalled that this type of missile is also referred to as an "aircraft carrier killer".
"So these seven bombers launched six such missiles over the territory of Ukraine. Although they never hit their targets, we know how dangerous they are, as their precision error may reach 600 meters," Ihnat said, recalling that the Russians had previously targeted with this type of missile a shopping center in Kremenchuk and other populated areas.
The spokesman added that "the enemy is using more and more missiles that they have left over from Soviet stocks, likely being unwilling to use high-precision weapons, which they have in short supply, I mean those Kalibr cruise missiles, Kh-101 , and others."
"The same can be applied to the weapons, also dating back to Soviet times, aerial bombs, high-explosive aerial bombs, but today they’ve become guided aerial bombs, which the enemy employed again this night – about seven such bombs were launched in the eastern direction and from the north," said Ihnat.
As reported earlier, Ukraine’s Air Force on Saturday, May 6, intercepted four Russian operational-tactical drones and a Lancet-type one-way attack drone.