The command of the Air Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) accused Russia that its reconnaissance planes flew into the zone reserved by Ukraine for conducting live firing. This became known on Friday, September 24.
According to Kiev, the Il-20 and Su-24MR planes repeatedly flew into the zone where the anti-aircraft missile forces of the Air Forces and the air defense forces of the land forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were firing.
"Russian planes crossed the combat courses of targets of the VR-3 Flight type, which were used by Ukrainian anti-aircraft guided missiles," the command said in a statement published on the department's Facebook page.
The Russian Defense Ministry has repeatedly commented on such statements: flights of the Aerospace Forces of the Russian Federation are always carried out in strict accordance with International Rules for the Use of Airspace.
On September 10, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky admitted the possibility of a full-scale war between Ukraine and Russia. At the same time, in his opinion, this will be the biggest mistake.
The press secretary of the President of Russia, Dmitry Peskov, said that the Kremlin treats such a statement by the Ukrainian leader "with regret".
State Duma deputy from the Crimea Ruslan Balbek, in turn, noted: Zelensky probably wants to scare Europe with an alleged global conflict with Russia in order to get funding for the war. However, according to the parliamentarian, the trick used by Zelensky is already outdated. He cited the example of the 20s of the last century, when the leaders of Russian emigration hoped to involve European countries in financing their war with Soviet Russia and they failed.
Relations between Russia and Ukraine became more complicated after a coup d'etat took place in Ukraine in 2014. Kiev launched a military operation against the Donbass, whose residents did not agree with the results of the change of power, and the Crimean authorities decided to hold a referendum on reunification with Russia. As a result of the referendum, 96.77% of Crimean voters and 95.6% of Sevastopol residents voted for the peninsula's entry into the Russian Federation.