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Ukrainian air defense shoots down Russian spy balloons over Kyiv [1]

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Date: 2023-02-15  

The Ukrainian air force reported earlier that a Russian reconnaissance drone and balloons with angled reflectors were recorded in the sky over Dnipropetrovsk Oblast on Sunday.

Ukrainian air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat told Ukrainska Pravda on Tuesday that “The Ukrainian Air Defense uses radars to observe these air targets moving in air streams at a low speed. Fighter aircraft are constantly on duty in the Ukrainian sky. The situation is under control."

Ihnat suggested that Russia could be using balloons in order to preserve its stocks of reconnaissance drones, Reuters reported.

"Reconnaissance drones like the Orlan-10 are now being used more sparingly (by Russia), and they thought 'Why don't we use these balloons?' So they are using them," Ihnat told Ukrainian television.

Ukraine’s neighbor Moldova briefly shut down its airspace on Tuesday because of a presumed air balloon floating over its territory, The New York Times reported. Moldovan authorities said the airspace was reopened after the object was found to be harmless, but the government did not specify what happened to the balloon.

Moldova’s President Maia Sandu recently accused Russia of trying to topple her nation’s pro-Western government through protests by pro-Russian forces. Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy had warned her of such a plot. Tensions are high in Moldova, a former Soviet republic, because Russian troops are present in the breakaway region of Transnistria, a narrow strip of land between the Dniester River and the Moldovan-Ukrainian border.

Ihnat was asked about the aerial object that flew over Moldova, but said he did not have any relevant data. He said such balloons could theoretically fly into airspace over neighboring countries depending on the strength and direction of the wind.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/15/2153131/-Ukrainian-air-defenses-busy-shooting-down-Russian-spy-balloons-flying-over-Kyiv

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