As of: February 26, 2024, 4:07 p.m
By: Momir Takac
Comments
Press
Split
Russia once again suffered the loss of an expensive Beriev A-50 aircraft in the Ukraine war.
The military leadership now seems to be reacting to this.
Munich – As is often the case in war, reports and allegations are very difficult or impossible to verify independently.
This also applies to losses.
According to British intelligence, Russia is said to have lost around 300 military aircraft since the start of the Ukraine war two years ago.
Most recently, Ukraine claims to have shot down a Russian spy plane - and claims that Moscow is drawing consequences from it.
Russia apparently grounded fighter jets because spy planes were shot down
What really happened on Friday (February 23) is hard to fathom.
The Ukrainian Air Force claimed it shot down a Russian Beriev A-50 spy plane over the Sea of Azov.
At the time it was shot down, it was said to have been around 200 kilometers from the front line, near the city of Primorsko-Akhtarsk.
Russia suffered the loss of a Beriev A-50 in the Ukraine war.
© IMAGO / ITAR-TASS
It is said to have been the second time the valuable aircraft was shot down.
It was only in January that Russia had to cope with the loss of an aircraft worth around $300 million.
Now Ukrainian military intelligence claims that the Russian military has withdrawn five other aircraft from their missions as a result of the incident.
Did Russia shoot down its own spy plane?
“Another sign of the success of the joint operation of the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Air Force is the order to stop the operations of two Su-35 aircraft and three Su-34 aircraft.
Some of them planned airstrikes near Avdiyika,” the agency wrote on Telegram.
The claims cannot be independently verified.
Su-34 and Su-35 are fighter jets that are expected to cost at least $36 million.
Russia is said to have lost seven such machines within a week alone.
The situation surrounding the recent shooting down of the Beriev A-50 is also unclear.
Because Russian military bloggers are speculating about “friendly fire.”
There is a suspicion that the Russian military took its own plane out of the sky.
(mt)