Russian Air Force Mi-8 helicopters, the type of aircraft that have been reported to have been shot down repeatedly.
Photo: Leonid Faerberg/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images.
There is still controversy
The Russian air force may have had its worst day since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war. Initial reports say four of its planes were shot down over Russian territory, a turning point for the Ukrainian military.
There is still much debate about the number of planes and helicopters that were shot down in Russia's Bryansk region, but a Russian news site said at least two Russian fighter jets - a Su-34 and a Su-35 - and two Mi-8 helicopters were destroyed.
The Ukrainian government has not yet confirmed that its air defense forces were involved in the downing of the Russian planes on Saturday, but said the planes “had some trouble.”
Bryansk is an area near the border between Russia and Ukraine and has been the subject of a number of attacks that Russia has blamed on the Kyiv government.
The simultaneous shooting down of multiple aircraft over Russian territory is unprecedented. Some analysts believe that Ukrainian air defenses may have advanced deep into Russian territory, while the Russian Air Force is increasingly using self-guided “gliding bombs” that can strike targets from great distances.
Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said on Sunday that “a Russian air strike group has been attacking Ukraine from the north, from the Bryansk Oblast. They attack almost every day, and they attack with guided bombs.”
This time, he said, “they got into a little bit of trouble. They wanted to bomb civilians, peaceful people of our country.” He later commented that this was a “dark day” for the Russian Air Force.
Social media videos obtained by CNN show at least one helicopter was shot down in the town of Klintsy in the Bryansk region, about 50km from the Russia-Ukraine border.
Aleksandr Bogomaz, governor of Bryansk, confirmed that a helicopter crashed in the area, injuring a civilian, but gave no information about the reason.
Another video shows a plane emitting black smoke crashing into a village in Bryansk about 25km from Klintsy.
Russia's official news agency TASS has posted a video of a helicopter exploding in the air and has also confirmed that a Su-34 fighter jet crashed, without giving the reason.
“Absolutely ridiculous”
The Russian Defense Ministry has not yet commented on the incidents, but an unofficial Russian Telegram channel described it as the worst day for the Russian Air Force since March 2022.
“A group of two Mi-8 helicopters and Su-34 and Su-35 fighter jets crashed in the Bryansk Oblast,” Russia’s Kommersant newspaper reported, adding that it was possible that several other helicopters were also damaged.
The newspaper added: “The attackers are being searched by air and ground.”
Kommersant also reported that: "The fighters were scheduled to carry out bombing attacks on targets in the Chernihiv region of Ukraine, and the helicopters were tasked with providing support for the fighters, which included rescuing the pilots of the Su-34 and Su-35 aircraft in case they were shot down by enemy fire. All four aircraft did not return to airspace. The pilots were killed."
Kommersant’s reports could not be independently verified. But other Russian sources have also begun talking about the incident, with a popular Telegram channel posting an article about the event, saying: “This was a well-planned operation.”
Smoke rises after a Su-34 aircraft crashed in Bryansk region, Russia on May 13.
Photo: kommersant/Telegram
Andrei Medvedev, a deputy of the Moscow City Council, said on Saturday that four planes had crashed, adding: “Yesterday it was Luhansk (referring to the missile attack on the city), today it was an attack on our air force. They are probing our defenses. Looking for weak points in the defenses. They want to hit our logistics, factories, air forces.”
Another Russian Telegram channel with daily posts about the conflict claimed that Ukraine had “launched missiles from the Chernihiv region, close to the border.”
“The enemy most likely attacked through an ambush with its air defense forces, which were moved to the border in advance, at a distance from which our air group could be attacked. That means the enemy most likely knew in advance the flight path and take-off time of the air group,” Daniil Bezsonov, a Russian military blogger, said on Saturday.
Several Russian bloggers have also expressed dismay after learning that one of the downed Mi-8 helicopters was carrying advanced jamming equipment.
A Russian Telegram channel said it was “absolutely absurd” to send such a helicopter so close to Ukraine’s air defenses, arguing that “they must be completely detached from reality” to send a specially equipped Mi-8 into such a dangerous area.
Military analysts have assessed that Ukraine may have moved its air defenses as close to the border as Chernihiv to counter Russian bombings from as far away as possible, almost like missile attacks.
Over the past month, the Russian military has been converting FAB-500 bombs into cruise missiles, Ihnat said, and is using them “from a distance beyond the reach of Ukrainian air defenses.”
Mykola Oleshchuk, Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Air Force, also said that the nature of the threat has changed.
In April, on Telegram, he wrote: “Russian planes no longer need to come within range of our air defenses, they can strike the front line and near-frontline cities from a distance.”
The events of last Saturday in Bryansk suggest that this range of attack may have reached Russian territory.
At the same time, this event also shows what some Russian sources have pointed out: the Ukrainian military in this case has some detailed intelligence about the tasks set by the Russian military. For the Russian government, this is no less worrying than having four planes shot down on its territory.
Nguyen Quang Minh (According to CNN)
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