Two high-value Russian plane have been shot down, Ukraine has claimed, in what can be a serious blow to its air drive.
The Ukrainian military says an A-50 spy airplane – which is one in every of only a handful of early warning and management planes within the Russian fleet – and an Ilyushin Il-22 airborne command publish have been destroyed.
Both have been shot over the Sea of Azov, in accordance with Ukrainian authorities adviser Anton Gerashchenko, with officers estimating the A-50 – which generally holds a 15-strong crew – is value about £260m ($330m).
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Commander-in-chief of the armed forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi mentioned: “I am grateful to the air force for the perfectly planned and conducted operation in the Azov Sea area.”
Phillips O’Brien, professor of strategic research on the University of St Andrews, mentioned the plane losses ought to “seriously complicate Russian aircraft operations close to the battlefield,” if confirmed.
“And if these were shot down by Patriots [a missile] over the Sea of Azov, would have meant that they would have been brought very close to the front lines,” he posted on X.
“Quite an operation.”
“This is for Dnipro,” Ukrainian air drive commander Mykola Oleshchuk wrote on Telegram, referring to the the anniversary of an assault on a residential constructing in Dnipro, which killed dozens.
A-50 plane, developed by Russian agency Beriev, can management as much as 10 fighter plane for both air-to-air intercept or air-to-ground assault missions.
Ukraine didn’t supply any element as to how they declare the planes have been destroyed.
The plane entered service in 1985 and, in accordance with completely different estimates, Russia had between 10 and 12 of the planes as of 2022.
Some Russian navy bloggers mentioned the downing can be an enormous loss for Russia’s air drive, since there’s a restricted variety of the planes in service.
“It will be another dark day for the Russian Aerospace Forces and Air Defence,” wrote Rybar, a blogger with almost 1.2 million subscribers.
“There are not many A-50s. And the specialists operating them are generally rare. If an aircraft of this type is hit, the crew will not be able to escape.”
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The UK’s Ministry of Defence mentioned in November final 12 months that it believed Russia was updating their A-50 fleet in anticipation of the West supplying trendy fighter jets such because the F-16 to Ukraine.
It comes after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made a shock go to to Kyiv on Friday to announce a brand new bundle of navy assist, safety assurances and humanitarian help.
In February final 12 months, the Belarusian partisan organisation, the BYPOL, claimed it had broken an A-50 in a drone assault on Machulishchy airfield, close to Minsk.
Ukraine’s declare has not been independently verified, whereas the Russian defence ministry didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Source: information.sky.com”