Ukraine: Separatists claim to have captured 5 crew members of AN-26

Russia's Itar-Tass news agency reported on July 14 that separatist forces of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic (LPR) in Ukraine announced that they had captured five crew members of an AN-26 transport plane of the country's army.

Debris of the An-26 is seen near the village of Davido-Nikolsk in Ukraine's Lugansk region on July 14 (Source: AFP)

The report said that separatist forces shot down two Ukrainian air force planes, "one plane was shot down near Lysychansk, the second near the Izvarino border crossing".

According to Itar-Tass, "in Lysychansk, separatists shot down an attack aircraft, and in the Izvarino area a transport aircraft", probably an AN-26, with a total of 8 people on board.

Meanwhile, the spokesman for Ukraine's anti-terrorist operation, Vladislav Seleznev, said that two crew members of the AN-26 had been captured. "At 18:15 there was information that two crew members had been captured by terrorists," he said. Now the remaining crew members are trying to establish contact.

Earlier, media reported that part of the crew of the military transport plane shot down on July 14 had been captured by separatists.

Shortly before, Ukrainian Defense Minister Valery Heletey announced that the AN-26 was shot down not by a shoulder-fired missile, but by a more powerful missile - most likely from the territory of the Russian Federation./.

According to Vietnam +