Ukrainian missile strikes destroyed at least three Russian warplanes in annexed Crimea this week, media reported Friday, citing satellite imagery.
Russia's Defense Ministry said it intercepted 15 US-supplied ATACMS missiles on Wednesday and Thursday.
Mikhail Razvozhaev, the Russian-appointed governor of the Crimean city of Sevastopol, said on Wednesday that Russian air defense systems shot down Ukrainian missiles over the Belbek airfield.
Images courtesy of Maxar, an American commercial satellite company. Belbek airfield showed two destroyed MiG-31 fighters and one destroyed Su-27 fighter, Reuters reported, adding that one MiG-29 fighter also appeared to have been damaged.
Investigative journalist for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Russian Service Mark Krutov, citing images from another satellite imagery provider Planet Labs, said the damage included a nearby fuel depot and was the result of two Ukrainian strikes on two consecutive nights.
Sevastopol and Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, have been hit by a growing number of drone and missile strikes since Russian troops began making territorial gains on the front lines in recent days.