I really don't believe news reports with any official attribution bragging about how close they came to shooting down an airliner that was not being communicative. We expect step by step procedures no more no less
If interception ever reaches the point of actually shooting, a hideous outcome has already occurred, even if a yet more hideous one is averted.
To make that less likely, a deterrence point of view requires that it both be true and that it believed to be true that the ultimate action can and will be taken at need.
Given the adversaries of interest, press reports of this kind may be about the main tool available to deter perpetrators who can be persuaded that their effort on this method will fail.