The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine wrote off the shot down An-26 on the Russian military

The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine suggested that the An-26 military transport aircraft, shot down by the border with the Russian Federation, was amazed at missile weapons from the territory of Russia. This was reported on the website of the President of Ukraine.

“Given the fact that the plane was at an altitude of 6500 meters, its defeat is impossible with portable anti -aircraft complexes, that is, the plane was shot down from another, more powerful missile weapon, which was probably used from the territory of the Russian Federation,” reported President Petro Poroshenko, Minister of Defense of Ukraine Valery Geletey.

To defeat objects at this height, more complex air defense systems are used, which are not at the disposal of armed supporters of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics. The Russian army is in service, in particular, the S-300, Buk, and the shell complexes.

“Based on the data transmitted by the Ukrainian pilots, two versions are considered: the shot was carried out by a terrestrial rocket from the shell rocket or a homing missile X-24 of the air-to-air, which was released from the plane raised from the Russian airport Millerovo, ” the Speaker of the National Security and Defense Council told Andrey Lysenko.

Meanwhile, representatives of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic claim that the An-26 was shot down by separatists from the MANPADS. They also stated that four transporter pilots were captured. The Ukrainian side reported that two pilots were ejected from the plane.

The connection with the An-26 of the Ukrainian Air Force disappeared at 12:30 local time. The aircraft carried out the task in the zone of the power operation in the Luhansk region. Later it became known that the An-26 was shot down, the pilots managed to catapult.

The separatists had previously managed to shoot down large aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force, in particular the An-26 transporter (the militias insisted that it was an An-30 reconnaissance aircraft) over Slavic, as well as the landing IL-76 at the Lugansk Airport. However, in both cases, they flew at a low altitude, which allowed the separatists to use portable anti-aircraft missile systems (MANPADS).

On July 13, several high -explosive shells issued from the territory of Ukraine exploded on the territory of the border Russian city of Donetsk. The Russian side accused the Ukrainian military of shelling, promising to take tough response measures. At the same time, there is no evidence of the involvement of Ukrainian security forces or pro -Russian separatists to shelling. Both sides shift the responsibility to each other.