Russian fighter jets have shot down two Ukrainian MiG-29 warplanes modified to fire US-made anti-radar weapons, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday.
According to the ministry, the planes that were intercepted in Ukraine’s southern Nikolaev Region were capable of carrying AGM-88 High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARM) that are used to destroy radar stations on the ground.
The ministry reported that 12 Ukrainian drones were shot down, and 21 missiles, mostly from US-supplied HIMARS launchers, were intercepted mid-air.
The news comes as Ukraine’s Kherson Region and large parts of neighboring Zaporozhye Region, both controlled by Russian troops, are holding five-day referendums on joining Russia. The Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), which broke away from Ukraine in the wake of the 2014 coup in Kiev, are also voting on becoming parts of Russia.
An RT news team came under fire in the city of Kherson on Sunday when a Ukrainian missile hit a hotel they were staying in. The journalists were unharmed, but two civilians were killed in the attack, including a former member of Ukraine’s parliament, local officials said.