fighter-bomber

British military intelligence officials on Friday said it was “very likely” that Ukraine shot down a Russian fighter-bomber with a surface-to-air missile this week over the northwestern Black Sea in the vicinity of Ukraine’s Snake Island.

The small, single-engine and highly maneuverable fighter-bomber has long been a mainstay of the United States Air Force, which used it extensively in combat during the 1991 gulf war, in the Balkans, and in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Two Russian Mi-8 helicopters and an Su-34 fighter-bomber crashed Saturday in the Bryansk region bordering Ukraine, state news agency Tass and a Telegram channel close to the Russian defense ministry reported.

The Russian Defense Ministry acknowledged it was friendly fire, saying overnight that an Su-34 supersonic fighter-bomber had accidentally discharged a munition.

A Su-34 fighter-bomber jet accidentally discharged aviation ammunition, the ministry said.