The Ukrainian Air Force claims it shot down eight Russian cruise missiles Tuesday that were fired into Ukraine from Belarus.
The eight cruise missiles were shot down by Ukrainian Air Force anti-aircraft missiles, according to the military branch. Russian forces have previously used Belarus’s airspace to launch cruise missile attacks, according to Ukrainian officials. In recent days, many Russian combat units in Ukraine have retreated toward Belarus.
“As we reported earlier, the enemy has changed the tactics of combat operations in the air: It tries not to enter the zone of destruction of our air defense and does not come into direct contact with the fighters. Instead, it strikes missiles from the air, in particular from the airspace of Belarus,” the Ukrainian Air Force said in a Telegram post.
“Eight cruise missiles were shot down by anti-aircraft missile units of the Air Force on April 5. The Air Force continues to support the actions of the ground forces of the Defense Forces, carrying out airstrikes on the occupiers,” the post said.
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The Ukrainian Air Force’s claims could not be independently verified.
The majority of Russian troops previously occupying areas near the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv and Kharkiv have retreated toward Belarus, a senior U.S. defense official said Monday. Ukrainian officials, however, say that airstrikes across Ukraine from Russian forces have continued in spite of the retreat.
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Ukrainian officials have claimed since the first few days after the start of Russia’s invasion that Vladimir Putin’s troops have been launching missile attacks from Belarus. As recently as Monday, Ukrainian officials claimed that two cruise missiles fired from Belarus had been shot down.
U.S. officials are seeing a failure rate of up to 60% for some of Russia’s precision-guided missiles being used in the assault on Ukrainian cities, according to a report last month.
