MOSCOW, August 12. /TASS/. The Kiev regime has made another attempt to hit the Crimean bridge with an S-200 missile converted into a ground-attack weapon, but the Russian air defenses shot it down in midair, the Russian Defense Ministry told reporters.

"On August 12 at about 3:00 p.m. Moscow time, the Kiev regime made another attempt to carry out a terrorist strike on the Crimean Bridge, using an S-200 surface-to-air missile reequipped for attacking ground targets. Russian air defense systems spotted the Ukrainian missile and shot it down in midair," the ministry said, adding that there was no damage or casualties.

Sergey Aksyonov, Crimea’s head, informed earlier that two Ukrainian missiles had been shot down and that the Crimean Bridge was not damaged.

Prior to that, a high-ranking aerospace defense source told TASS that the modified Soviet-made S-200 surface-to-air missile system can reach ground targets at a range of up to 600 kilometers.

The S-200 is a long-range, high altitude surface-to-air missile system made by the Soviet Union to defend large areas from bombers and other strategic aircraft. The S-200 original version was developed in 1964 and has been in service since 1967. As the most powerful anti-aircraft weapon, the S-200 air defense systems were deployed for a long time only within the Soviet Union. Their deliveries to foreign countries started in the 1980s, when the S-300P surface-to-air missile systems appeared.