MOSCOW/KIEV, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- The following are the latest developments related to the Ukraine crisis:

Two Ukrainian missiles attempting to attack the Crimean Bridge have been shot down by the air defense system in the Kerch Strait, Russia's Defense Ministry said on Saturday.

Ukraine on Saturday launched two S-200 missiles to strike the Crimean Bridge, but they "were detected in a timely manner and were intercepted in the air by Russian air defense systems," Russia's Tass news agency reported, citing the country's defense ministry.

The failed attack caused no damage or casualties, said the ministry.

However, the Ukrainian government-run Ukrinform news agency said that two explosions were heard on Saturday near the bridge, citing Ukraine's Center of national resistance.

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The United States is open to the idea of letting Ukrainian pilots come to the country for trainings on how to operate F-16 fighters, a spokesperson for the U.S. National Security Council (NSC) said Friday.

"Our European allies, as I said, are leading the effort. But if the capacity for training in Europe is reached, we are certainly open to doing the training for Ukrainian pilots here in the United States," the NSC's coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby said during a virtual news briefing with members of the press.

Kirby stressed that the training is a time-consuming "multi-step process" that ultimately aims to "improve the Ukrainian self-defense and military capabilities for the long term."

"It's going to be a while before jets can show up in Ukraine and for them to be integrated into the air fleet, and it's not just a function of the transfer of actual airframes," he said, adding that the provision of F-16s and other fourth generation aircraft also involves "the appropriate training for pilots, as well as setting up all the maintenance logistics and sustainment efforts that go into having modern aircraft like the F-16 in your fleet."

Language barrier stands as one of the obstacles for the Ukrainians, according to Kirby. "All the tech manuals are in English, and all the controls inside the aircraft are in English. And so a pilot is going to have at least some basic proficiency in the language to be able to just get in there and fly," he said, adding that trainers from Britain have expressed willingness to help with that.

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A Russian Su-30 fighter jet crashed on Saturday during a training flight in the Kaliningrad region.

The plane, equipped with no ammunition, crashed in a deserted area, killing its crew on board, said the press service of the Western Military District of Russia.

According to the preliminary report, the crash was caused by a technical malfunction. Enditem

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