Ukraine has managed to intercept Russia’s Tu-22M strategic bomber using anti-air equipment engineered "from scratch from old components," Ukrainian Defense Intelligence (HUR) chief Kyrylo Budanov told Ukrainian TV channel 1+1 on April 19.
Specifically, the country is devoting 150 million euros ($160 million) to Germany's Immediate Action on Air Defence initiative. The Netherlands has also allocated 60 million euros ($64 million) for the purchase of short-range air defense hardware, for example, to combat Russian drones.
Ukraine's Air Force and Defence Intelligence of Ukraine have destroyed a Russian Tu-22M3 long-range strategic bomber that carries Kh-22 cruise missiles. Source: Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk, Commander of Ukraine's Air Force, on Telegram Quote: "For the first time, anti-aircraft missile units of the Air Force, in cooperation with Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, have brought down a Tu-22M3 long-range strategic bomber - a carrier of Kh-22 cruise missiles, which Russian terrorists use to hit
Ukraine is conducting "active negotiations" with its partners to receive two additional batteries of the Patriot air defense system and one long-range SAMP/T anti-aircraft missile battery, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in an excerpt from an interview aired on April 12.