Ukraine claims to have destroyed a Russian airborne command aircraft

Ukraine tuyên bố phá hủy máy bay chỉ huy trên không của Nga - 1 — Image believed to be of Russian Il-22 aircraft riddled with shrapnel after being hit by Ukrainian fire in the Azov Sea (Photo: Twitter.

The Ukrainian military said on January 15 that its air force destroyed a Russian Beriev A-50 reconnaissance aircraft and an Ilyushin Il-22 airborne command post aircraft in the Azov Sea area. Both aircraft were flying over the Azov Sea when they were attacked at 9:10 p.m. on January 14.

Ukraine’s Chief of the General Staff Valery Zaluzhny also posted a video of a plane tracking map showing the planes were shot down over the Sea of Azov, east of the Crimean peninsula. The Sea of Azov is about 100km from Kiev-controlled territory.

The Russian Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reuters was also unable to independently verify Ukraine's claim.

However, hours after the Ukrainian military's statement, a Russian military blog specializing in air force news posted a photo of the shrapnel-covered tail of an Il-22 on the runway at a Russian base.

A Ukrainian air force spokesman retweeted the image, saying the plane appeared to have returned to the Russian town of Anapa, but was badly damaged beyond repair after catching fire.

It is not yet clear how Ukraine targeted and shot down the plane. One theory is that Ukraine used a Patriot anti-aircraft missile battery supplied by the US. However, this would involve moving the system closer to the front line where it could be detected.

Meanwhile, according to Russian military bloggers, these planes may have been hit by friendly fire or even shot down by a group of British SAS agents using surface-to-air missiles.

Whatever the hypothesis, the loss of these two planes is certainly a great loss for Russia.

According to the British Ministry of Defense, Russia has only six A-50s in service, each costing $330 million. Last February, a group of saboteurs in Belarus attacked a Russian A-50 while it was parked at an air base near the Belarusian capital Minsk, but the extent of the damage to the aircraft is unknown.

The A-50 is a large airborne early warning and command aircraft that can scan an area of several hundred kilometers to detect enemy aircraft, ships and missiles.

Natalia Humeniuk, a spokeswoman for Ukraine's southern military command, said that Russia has recently used the aircraft extensively to prepare and carry out long-range missile strikes on Ukraine. Kiev said that the Russian A-50 was one of Ukraine's top targets.

Ukraine appears to be challenging Russia's control of the Sea of Azov, including the ports of Berdyansk and Mariupol, which Russia took control of in 2022.

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