ZRPK «Pantsir-S1» at the field airfield of the Russian Aerospace Forces in the zone of the special military operation in Ukraine. File photoMOSCOW, Apr 15 Russian air defense shot down a Ukrainian Tu-143 Reis reconnaissance drone over the past day, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said. The Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle Tu-143 «Reis» was shot down in October, he said. Reis is a Soviet reconnaissance drone weighing 1230 kilograms, designed to conduct tactical low-altitude reconnaissance in the front line. In total, 950 such vehicles were produced in the USSR between 1973 and 1989. Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin named it goal «to protect people who have been subjected to abuse, genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.» To this end, according to him, the plan It is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine», to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for «bloody crimes against civilians» in Donbass. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces strike only at the military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops and, as of March 25, they have completed the main tasks of the first stage — they have significantly reduced the combat potential of Ukraine. The main goal in the Russian military department was called the liberation of Donbass. in UkraineInfographicView
