Kyiv February 26 2022: Ukraine’s defence ministry says it has shot down one of Moscow’s troop carriers near Kyiv, killing a large number of Russian paratroopers.
The BBC has not independently verified these claims and the Russian defence ministry is yet to comment on the reports.
The defence ministry in Kyiv wrote in a Facebook post that Ukrainian Su-27 fighter jets intercepted a Russian IL-76 MD troop carrier at around 00:30 local time (22:30 GMT) on Saturday as it was trying to land paratroopers in the Kyiv region.
According to specifications released by the manufacturer, the plane can carry up to 167 soldiers, as well as a crew of six to seven people.
“This is revenge for Luhansk 2014,” the commander of Ukraine’s military, Lt Gen Valery Zaluzhny, wrote on Facebook, referring to the downing of a Ukrainian plane eight years ago, which killed 40 paratroopers and nine crew members.
Russian military spokesperson Maj Gen Igor Konashenkov said on Saturday that Moscow had suffered no casualties during the invasion
