KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian authorities have launched an investigation after a midair collision between two warplanes within the west of the nation killed three pilots.

Ukraine’s air drive spokesman Yuri Ihnat informed Ukrainian tv on Sunday it wasn’t instantly clear how lengthy the probe would take.

According to the air drive’s Telegram web page, two L-39 coaching navy plane collided on Friday throughout a fight mission over Ukraine‘s western Zhytomyr area. Three pilots had been killed, together with Andriy Pilshchykov, a widely known pilot with the nickname “Juice” who was an outspoken advocate for Ukraine getting F-16 fighter jets.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in his nightly deal with on Saturday paid tribute to Pilshchykov, describing him as a “Ukrainian officer, one of those who helped our country a lot.”

Ukraine‘s Vasilkiv tactical aviation brigade on Sunday recognized the opposite two pilots killed within the collision as Viacheslav Minka and Serhiy Prokazin.

Russian forces, within the meantime, focused central and northern areas of Ukraine with cruise missiles in a single day. Ukraine’s air drive on Sunday reported air defenses efficiently intercepted 4 of them. In the Kyiv area surrounding the Ukrainian capital, the falling particles broken a dozen non-public properties and wounded two individuals, Ukraine‘s Interior Ministry mentioned.

PHOTOS: Ukraine investigates incident that killed 3 pilots whereas Russia assaults with cruise missiles

Russia’s Defense Ministry mentioned in an announcement Sunday that it focused - and efficiently hit - an airfield within the Kyiv area. Ukrainian officers didn't instantly touch upon the declare.

In Kyiv, relations of troopers captured by Russian forces in Mariupol, a port metropolis in jap Ukraine Moscow’s military besieged and seized early on within the battle, gathered for a rally marking 500 days since their members of the family had been in captivity. They demanded that the Ukrainian authorities convey their family members house.

In Russia, the Defense Ministry reported bringing down two drones over the Bryansk and Kursk areas that border Ukraine. The drones, the ministry mentioned, had been launched by “the Kyiv regime” in “yet another attempt at terrorist attacks” on Russian soil.

Kursk Gov. Roman Starovoit, nonetheless, reported {that a} drone slammed right into a multistory residential constructing within the area’s namesake capital. It wasn’t instantly clear if it crashed after being shot down by air defenses, just like the Defense Ministry reported, or was concentrating on the constructing. Starovoit mentioned nobody was damage, however various home windows had been shattered.

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