Ukraine’s military said on Monday its air force destroyed a Russian Beriev A-50 surveillance plane and an Ilyushin Il-22 airborne command post in the Sea of Azov area in an operation that could delay some future Russian missile strikes.
Ukrainian army chief Valery Zaluzhny, who announced the hits on Telegram messenger, posted a video of an aircraft tracking map suggesting the planes were struck over the Sea of Azov, which lies to the east of the occupied Crimean peninsula.
Reuters was unable to verify his statement independently.
Hours after Zaluzhny’s statement, a Russian military blog which covers air force matters posted an image of the shrapnel-riddled tail section of an Il-22 standing on tarmac and lauded the crew as “real heroes”.
The A-50, which first came into service near the end of the Soviet era, is a large Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft that can scan an area several hundred kilometres across for enemy aircraft, ships and missiles.
Natalia Humeniuk, spokeswoman for Ukraine’s southern military command, told a briefing that Russia had used the plane extensively to prepare for and conduct long-range missile strikes on Ukraine.
“We expect such a strike [on the A-50] to be fairly painful and, at least, to delay powerful missile strikes,” she said.
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Some Russian military bloggers said the downing of the A-50 would be a huge loss for Russia’s air force, since there was a limited number of the planes in service.
“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 defence ministry valued the A-50 at US$330 million.
It was not clear how many A-50s Russia has in service.
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London-based think tank IISS said in a 2021 report that Russia had nine A-50 aircraft in operation, including four modernised A-50U planes.
The Russian defence ministry said early last year that the modernised A-50U had been carrying out missions during the war in Ukraine.