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Ukraine said it had shot down a Russian spy plane and badly damaged a second over the Sea of Azov region, dealing a significant blow to Moscow’s air power.
Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine’s chief of military intelligence, told the Financial Times on Monday that Ukrainian forces had managed to destroy the Russian A-50 and damage the Il-22.
“The A-50 was shot down and it exploded,” he said. “The Il-22 was badly damaged but, unfortunately for us, it managed to make an emergency landing in Anapa [a Russian town on the Black Sea coast],” Budanov added during an interview at his Kyiv office.
Earlier on Monday, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief of the armed forces Valeriy Zaluzhny, wrote on Telegram that “soldiers of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine destroyed the enemy A-50 long-range radar detection aircraft and the Il-22 airborne command post of the enemy.”
He shared a clip from a radar screen that appeared to show the planes disappearing over the sea and thanked the air force for “the excellently planned and conducted operation in Azov region” late on Sunday.
The strikes on the two command and control aircraft represents a significant boost to Ukraine’s counteroffensive nearly two years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion. The sophisticated surveillance planes are key to Russia’s co-ordination of ground operations.
“There are just eight A-50s in good condition,” Budanov said, adding that the aircraft’s destruction would probably affect Russia’s ability to operate and communicate in the conflict zone “around the clock”.
Mykola Oleshchuk, Ukraine’s air force commander, also confirmed the attacks, writing on Telegram: “This is for Dnipro! Burn in hell, you bastards!” referring to recent Russian air strikes on the south-eastern city.
Ukrainian defence sources said the A-50, an airborne early warning and control jet, was shot down shortly after take-off near Kyrylivka, a coastal town on the northern Azov coast in the occupied region of Zaporizhzhia, at 9.10pm local time. Around the same time, the Il-22 airborne command post was struck and damaged.
The Sea of Azov, which is situated north of the annexed peninsula of Crimea and the Black Sea, lies between Ukraine and Russia but is wholly controlled by the latter since the war began.
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Ukraine’s military did not say what was used to strike the planes and it has few domestically produced air defence systems capable of the attack. But since it received US-made Patriot air defence systems last year, Ukraine has waged a more effective campaign against Russian aircraft.
There was no immediate response from Russia’s defence ministry. The Kremlin had “no information” about it, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.
The loss of the A-50, in particular, said Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, “is significant, because Russia has a limited number of them”.
The Soviet-designed and produced A-50, dubbed “Mainstay” by Nato, is a four-engine, jet-propelled plane that can carry a crew of 15. Using a rotating radar fastened at the rear, it can detect enemy planes and incoming missiles from more than 650km while co-ordinating friendly aircraft, and can detect ground targets up to 300km away.
The four-engine propeller-powered Ilyushin Il-22 carries 10 crew and helps to co-ordinate ground operations.
Rybar, a pro-Kremlin military analysis channel on Telegram, did not rule out the possibility of “friendly fire” by Russian air defence systems.
“If this information [about the downing of the planes] is confirmed, it would be another dark day for the Russian aerospace forces and air defence,” the channel said.
Another pro-Kremlin Telegram channel called Dva Mayora (Two Mayors) acknowledged the damage to the planes and also pointed to the possibility of a friendly fire incident.
“All systemic problems and causes of the incident are known to specialists, airmen and air defence soldiers,” the channel’s authors wrote.
Fighterbomber, another pro-war Telegram channel, posted a picture of what it said was the Il-22’s wing and rear, shot full of holes after the strike.
Additional reporting by Max Seddon
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