Russia reportedly launched the missile attack from somewhere near the Caspian Sea at around 5pm local time on Tuesday using Tu-95 strategic bombers, the post said. In total, Ukraine said eight cruise missiles were fired toward central, southern and western Ukraine. But Ukraine shot down seven of the eight missiles, the post said. Six of them were “destroyed” by anti-aircraft missile forces, while one was shot down by an Air Force fighter jet, Ukraine said. The Air Force noted that the eighth missile hit an anti-aircraft missile complex in the Lviv region, adding that the military was continuing to assess the damage and casualties of the strike. Further details, including the type of fighter jet used to shoot down the Russian missile, have not been released by Ukraine. The target of the missiles is unknown. Newsweek was unable to independently verify the report from the Ukrainian Air Force and reached out to the Ukrainian and Russian foreign ministries for comment. Ukraine claimed to have shot down a Russian missile using a fighter jet on Tuesday, as the countries continue to battle over control of eastern Ukraine. Above, a rocket is fired near Lugansk in Ukraine’s Donbas region on April 10, 2022. ANATOLII STEPANOV/AFP via Getty Images Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, hoping for a quick takeover of their eastern European neighbor, whose military is much smaller than Russia’s. However, Russian troops faced a stronger-than-expected response from Ukraine, which has since been backed by the West. Putin tried to justify the invasion by saying it was meant to “liberate” the Donbas, a separatist region in eastern Ukraine, and rid the Ukrainian government of the Nazis, even though Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish. After months of fighting, Ukrainian soldiers have pushed the Russian army back to the easternmost part of the country. Fighting on the battlefield continues to tighten in the eastern part of Ukraine, although Russia continues to carry out strikes elsewhere in the country. The missiles that Ukraine reportedly shot down on Tuesday are the latest losses for the Russian military. Ukraine publishes daily its estimates of Russian casualties. Ukraine has announced that it has shot down 174 Russian cruise missiles in the more than five months of the conflict. It has also destroyed 1,768 tanks, 223 aircraft, 15 boats and nearly 3,000 other vehicles, according to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. Russia does not publish its losses and Ukraine’s estimates cannot be independently verified. On July 5, video appeared on social media that appeared to show Ukraine shooting down six Russian missiles aimed at the city of Dnipro.
