A Ukrainian Navy An-26 aircraft came under small-arms fire from a Russian-occupied drilling rig in the Black Sea on the morning of Feb. 1, Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak has reported in a post on his Facebook page.
The plane was on a training flight over Odesa gas field in the Black Sea, over Ukrainian territorial waters.
The aircraft was slightly damaged but was able to continue its mission and then return to base, according to Poltorak. The crew was not injured.
Poltorak also said that the crew detected a radar lock-on signature, “which is typically used for missile guidance by air defense systems.”
After the plane returned, ground crews found bullet holes three centimeters in diameter in the plane’s fuselage, and concluded they were the result of small arms fire.
