It is Ukraine’s second claim to have shot down a Russian military espionage plane, the A-50, in less than two months. Approximately 200 kilometers (124 miles) from the battle line, the plane was struck between the Russian cities of Rostov-on-Don and Krasnodar, according to Ukrainian military sources.
Emergency workers extinguished a huge fire and discovered pieces of a plane in the Kanevskoy neighborhood. Russia has not responded on the assertion. It will be two years on Saturday since Russia began a full-scale invasion.
The plane, a long-range radar detection aircraft, was brought down with the assistance of military intelligence, according to Mykola Oleshchuk, the director of Ukraine’s Air Force. He also mentioned that the incident happened on a major Russian military holiday. He posted on Telegram, “Happy Defender of the Fatherland Day to the occupiers.”
Online footage captures the moment the aircraft looks to be shot down in midair, along with massive flames and what appears to be dark, thick smoke coming from the wreckage.
Later, the emergency services in Krasnodar reported that an aircraft had crashed close to the Trudovaya Armenia village in the Kanevskoy region and that the fire had been put out. It didn’t give any more information.
Meanwhile, the possibility that friendly fire caused the plane to crash was raised by at least one Russian military-affiliated Telegram group. “At this time, it is unknown who shot it down,” wrote Fighterbomber.
On January 14, Ukraine made its most recent claim to have shot down an A-50. According to a recent briefing from the UK Ministry of Defence, Russia most likely possessed six operational A-50s.
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The construction of the aircraft, which coordinates targets for Russian fighters and detects air defenses, can run into the hundreds of millions of dollars. In recent times, Ukraine has had difficulty making major progress against Russian forces in the southeast. Officials from the Ukrainian army claimed that in the incident last month, both the A-50 and an Il-22 control center plane were destroyed.