The Ukrainian navy claimed Monday to have shot down two Russian plane over the Sea of Azov in a blow to Moscow’s missile strike capabilities.
Kyiv stated its air drive destroyed a Russian Beriev A-50 surveillance aircraft and an Ilyushin Il-22 airborne command put up however didn’t disclose how the delicate plane have been struck.
The Sea of Azov lies roughly 100 kilometers (60 miles) from areas Kyiv holds. Russia’s Defense Ministry has but to touch upon the incident.
Ukrainian military chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, who introduced the hits on Telegram messenger, posted a video of an plane monitoring map suggesting the planes have been struck over the Sea of Azov, which lies to the east of the occupied Crimean peninsula.
Reuters was unable to confirm his assertion independently.
Hours after Zaluzhnyi’s assertion, a Russian navy weblog posted a picture of the shrapnel-riddled tail part of an Il-22 standing on the tarmac and lauded the crew as “real heroes,”
Kyiv’s air drive spokesman reposted the picture, saying the aircraft appeared to have made it to the Russian city of Anapa however was past restore because it had been on fireplace. He added that the A-50 had been Kyiv’s precedence goal.
The A-50, which first got here into service close to the top of the Soviet period, is a big Airborne Early Warning and Control plane that may scan an space a number of hundred kilometers throughout for enemy plane, ships and missiles.
Natalia Humeniuk, spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern navy command, instructed a briefing that Russia had used the aircraft extensively to arrange for and conduct long-range missile strikes on Ukraine in a conflict that nears its second anniversary.
“We expect such a strike (on the A-50) to be fairly painful and, at least, to delay powerful missile strikes,” she stated.
Some Russian navy bloggers stated the downing of the A-50 can be an enormous loss for Russia’s air drive since there was a restricted variety of planes in service.
“It will be another dark day for the Russian Aerospace Forces and Air Defense,” wrote Rybar, a blogger with practically 1.2 million subscribers that helps and offers operating commentary on Russia’s conflict in Ukraine.
“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.”
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry valued the A-50 at $330 million.
Ukrainian navy spy chief Kyrylo Budanov instructed the Financial Times that Russia had eight A-50s left.
London-based suppose tank IISS stated in a 2021 report that Russia had 9 A-50 plane in operation, together with 4 modernized A-50U planes.
The Russian Defense Ministry stated early final yr that the modernized A-50U had been finishing up missions throughout the conflict in Ukraine.
The plane, which fits by the NATO reporting identify of Mainstay, can detect greater than 300 targets concurrently, it stated.
It can detect and observe a missile launch at a distance of 800 kilometers and floor and sea targets at 300 kilometers.
Source: www.dailysabah.com