Putin Using China Playbook? Ukraine Shoots Down 6 Russian Spy Balloons Over Kyiv

A day after a Chinese expert warned that Vladimir Putin could be involved in spy balloons spotted over the U.S. last week, Ukraine said it shot down six Russian balloons over Kyiv. 

What Happened: The Ukrainian military said the balloons were spotted over the capital and were shot down after being engaged by air defenses on Wednesday, reported Reuters. 

Ukraine said the balloons might have been carrying corner reflectors and reconnaissance equipment. “According to information that is now being clarified, these were balloons that move in the air under the propulsion of wind,” the military administration wrote on Telegram.

“The purpose of launching the balloons was [to] possibly detect and exhaust our air defenses.”

See Also: US Recovers Key Sensors From Chinese Spy Balloon Downed By Military

Shortly before the military's announcement, the war-torn nation's air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said Moscow could be using balloons in a new drive to preserve its stocks of reconnaissance drones.

“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.

“The enemy wants us to use our air defenses, which protect our strategic objects, on these balloons, which cost nothing,” he said.

On Tuesday, an expert on China warned that Russia could be linked to Beijing’s spy balloon. Gatestone Institute Senior Fellow Gordon Chang said, “the objects that were shot down on Friday and Saturday entered North American airspace from the North, which means that they probably passed over Russia.”

Chang suggested three possibilities, including that the balloon could perhaps be a “Russian object.”

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