Russian jet ‘shoots down Ukrainian warplane’

Kiev military says plane on military operations was hit by rocket strike

A pro-Russian separatist from the Vostok (east) battalion poses for a picture atop a T-64 tank in Donetsk. Photograph: Maxim Zmeyev/Reuters
A pro-Russian separatist from the Vostok (east) battalion poses for a picture atop a T-64 tank in Donetsk. Photograph: Maxim Zmeyev/Reuters

A Russian jet shot down a Ukrainian SU-25 fighter plane that was on military operations over the east of Ukraine, where government forces are fighting to quell a pro-Russian separatist rebellion, a military spokesman said on Thursday.

The plane was brought down on Wednesday night by a rocket strike and the pilot safely ejected, Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukraine’s national Defence and Security Council, told journalists.