MOSCOW. July 3 (Interfax) - An Iskander missile strike has destroyed a combat helicopter and vehicles of the Ukrainian Armed Forces at the Poltava airbase, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
"An Iskander short-range missile system of the Russian Armed Forces has struck an aircraft parking at the Poltava airbase. The strike destroyed a Mil Mi-24 combat helicopter of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and vehicles of the engineering aviation service," it said.
On July 2, the ministry said that Russian forces had struck nine Ukrainian warplanes over the past day. A combined strike on an airbase destroyed five and damaged two Ukrainian Sukhoi Su-27 aircraft, and two more Ukrainian planes were downed by air defense, it said.
The ministry said earlier on July 2 that Russian forces had struck the Ukrainian Mirgorod airbase using an Iskander-M missile system.