The Kremlin said Monday it has “no information” about Russian military aircraft that Ukraine claims to have shot down over the Azov Sea.
Ukraine’s top general Valerii Zaluzhnyi announced earlier on Monday that a Russian A-50 long-range radar detection aircraft and an Il-22 aerial command center had been “destroyed” over the Azov Sea, which lies between Ukraine and Russia.
“I’m grateful to the [Ukrainian] Air Force for the perfectly planned and executed operation,” Zaluzhnyi wrote on the messaging app Telegram.
Citing anonymous Ukrainian Defense Forces sources, the news outlet RBC-Ukraine reported that both aircraft were attacked at around 9:00 p.m. local time on Sunday.
The A-50 reportedly disappeared from radar and stopped responding to aviation requests on the northern coast of the Azov Sea.
Meanwhile, the Il-22M11 was hit on the eastern coast, near annexed Crimea, and requested an emergency landing in the southern Russian city of Anapa, according to RBC-Ukraine.
“No, there’s no information,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists when asked about the reports on Monday.
“This is an issue that concerns the persecution of the special military operation” Peskov said, using the Kremlin's prefered term for its invasion of Ukraine.
He redirected journalists' questions about the alleged aircraft downings to Russia's Defense Ministry, which has not yet commented on Kyiv's claims.
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