Ukraine claims to have shot down Russia's 'mirage' plane in the sky

Reuters quoted the Ukrainian military's announcement stating that the country's air force shot down a Beriev A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft and an Ilyushin Il-22 airborne command and control aircraft of the Russian air force operating over the Azov Sea on January 14. The statement also said that this action would disrupt Russia's missile attacks on Ukraine in the coming time.

However, Kiev did not reveal how it shot down two Russian command aircraft, while the Azov Sea is more than 100 km away from Ukraine's controlled area.

The Russian Ministry of Defense has not yet made any official comment on this information.

Beriev A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft of the Russian Air Force. (Photo: TASS)

Chief of the General Staff of the Ukrainian army, General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, also posted a video on Telegram describing the country's air force shooting down two Russian command aircraft over the Sea of Azov.

Hours after General Zaluzhnyi's statement, a Russian military blog posted a picture of the shrapnel-covered tail of an Il-22 standing on the runway and praised the crew as "real heroes".

A Ukrainian air force spokesman later reposted the photo and said the Il-22 had most likely landed in the Russian town of Anapa but was badly damaged, stressing that the A-50 was the priority target.

The A-50 first entered service in the late 1980s, as a large airborne early warning and control aircraft capable of scanning an area several hundred kilometers wide for enemy aircraft, ships, and missiles.

According to Natalia Humeniuk, spokeswoman for the Southern Military Command of Ukraine, Russia often uses A-50 aircraft to prepare and conduct long-range missile attacks on Ukraine.

“We believe that an attack on the A-50 would cause serious damage to the Russian air force and at least delay Moscow's missile strikes,” Humeniuk said.

The tail section of what is believed to be the Il-22 aircraft was damaged after being attacked on January 14. (Photo: Telegram)

Some Russian military bloggers believe that the shooting down of the A-50 would be a huge loss for the Russian air force because the number of aircraft in service is very limited.

“This will be another dark day for the Russian air force and aerospace forces,” said Rybar, a Russian military blogger with nearly 1.2 million followers on Telegram. “There are not many A-50s and the crews that can operate them are limited. If this type of aircraft is hit, the crew will have no chance to escape.”

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense values the A-50 aircraft at around $330 million.

Ukraine's military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov told the Financial Times that Russia has eight A-50s left.

The London-based IISS think tank said in a 2021 report that Russia has nine A-50s in service, including four modernized A-50Us.

The Russian Defense Ministry said early last year that modernized A-50U aircraft had carried out missions in the war in Ukraine.

The A-50 can detect more than 300 targets at the same time. It can detect and track missile launches at a distance of 800 km and ground and sea targets at a distance of 300 km.

Tra Khanh (Source: Reuters)

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