ISTANBUL
Russia claimed on Tuesday that it foiled an alleged plot by Ukraine and the UK to steal a Mikoyan MiG-31 interceptor aircraft carrying air-launched ballistic missiles.
A statement by the Federal Security Service (FSB) said Ukrainian military intelligence, with support from the UK, sought to steal the MiG-31 jet carrying Kinzhal missiles by trying to recruit Russian pilots with the promise of $3 million.
According to the statement, Ukrainian military intelligence planned to fly the aircraft toward a NATO airbase near the Romanian city of Constanta, where it could be shot down by air defense systems.
“The measures taken thwarted the plans of Ukrainian and British intelligence to stage a large-scale provocation,” it added.
Neither Ukrainian nor British officials immediately commented on Russia’s claim.
Meanwhile, the FSB’s Public Relations Center told state news agency TASS that in response to the alleged plot the Russian Aerospace Forces launched strikes against a center of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence in the Kyiv region, as well as against a military airfield near the city of Starokostiantyniv in the western Khmelnytskyi region.
Ukraine’s Air Force, meanwhile, claimed in a statement that as of 9.30 am local time (0730GMT) its air defenses shot down 53 out of 119 various types of drones launched by Russia overnight.
It said the attack mainly focused on front-line territories in the country’s Donetsk, Kharkiv, and Dnipropetrovsk regions, as well as targeted the southwestern Odesa region.