Kirylo Budanov, head of Ukrainian intelligence, was allegedly killed in the bombing of a military base in the Kharkiv region, Russian propaganda media recently claimed. PostPravda immediately denied these reports. Today, these claims were directly refuted by Budanov himself, giving an interview to BBC Ukraine.
Ambush on a bomber that was destroying Odessa
Budanov told reporters that the ambush on the Russian TU-22MZ aircraft took about a week. – ‘We waited for a long time, we prepared and finally we succeeded’ – this is how the head of GUR, or Ukrainian military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov answered the question of how it was possible to shoot down the Russian strategic bomber. On the same night that the plane was downed, it was taking part in another attack on Ukraine.
Budanov tells of bomber’s destruction
The head of GUR did not want to reveal details of the operation to the BBC. He only added that the plane was hit from a distance of 308 kilometers. To destroy it, the Ukrainians used “the same techniques and the same means used when destroyed the A-50 aircraft.”
According to GUR, the Russians still have aircraft of this type. But, Budanov stressed, “this is the first shooting down of a long-range aircraft in this war,” and Odessa will be a little safer because of it. Budanov also said that it was the TU-22 that used Ch-22 missiles, which caused the most damage to civilian infrastructure, because they are outdated and off-target.
Now the Russians will have to look for new launch sites for missiles and will be forced to use only ground complexes and long-range aviation missiles and shelling from the sea for attacks on Odessa,” Budanov concluded.
