Coup over the Sea of ​​Azov: Ukraine: A rare Russian reconnaissance plane was shot down

The coup on the Sea of ​​Azov
Ukraine: A rare Russian reconnaissance plane was shot down

February 23, 2024 at 8:49 pm

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A fireball over the Sea of ​​Azov, a Russian reconnaissance plane shot down – and confusion. Initially, its forces were said to have shot down a Beriev A-50 U from the sky, then Ukraine announced its downing. This does not change the result: it is a major blow to Moscow.

The Ukrainian army says it shot down a Russian reconnaissance plane. “The A-50 with the call sign ‘Pagan’ has completed its last flight,” Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk wrote on his Telegram channel.

Earlier in the evening, there were reports that a Russian Beriev A-50U reconnaissance plane had been shot down. The well-known Russian military blogger, Vladimir Romanov, claimed this on his channel on the Telegram application The plane was shot down by their army. According to his findings, the bombing came from the area surrounding the city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine. Russian forces occupied it at the end of May 2022 after a siege that lasted for months. Since then it has been permanently under Russian control.

The Ukrainian military later complained He dropped himself over the Sea of ​​Azov. It was not clear for a long time where the wreckage of the plane fell to the ground. It now appears clear that it crashed in Russia's Krasnodar region near the town of Trudovaya, Armenia.

Videos spread on social media show fireballs in the dark evening sky and an explosion can be heard. Additional videos document a fire on the ground. This is said to be the wreckage of the plane.

The Beriev A-50 is a reconnaissance aircraft developed in the Soviet Union in the late 1970s and entered service in the mid-1980s. Its mission is to monitor the airspace. It is expected that an aircraft of this type will cost the equivalent of 330 to 350 million US dollars. At least the financial loss is no less serious than the loss of the crew. They receive special training and are not easily replaced.

At the beginning of 2023, the British newspaper The Guardian reported that Russia had only six aircraft of this type. On the other hand, “Spiegel” talked about the presence of twelve Beriev A-50 aircraft in the ranks of the Russian Air Force. In mid-January 2024, an aircraft of this type was said to have been shot down over the Sea of ​​Azov. The Ukrainian military command also claimed responsibility for this shooting.