- Russian Armed Forces seem to have downed their very own Su-27 fighter jet over occupied Crimea.
- A Ukrainian spokesperson stated human error was responsible for the Russian blunder.
- Russia’s aviation losses have been rising considerably in 2024.
Russian Armed Forces downed one among their very own Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jets over Crimea on Thursday, Ukrainian officers declare.
Ukraine’s Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk stated on Ukrainian tv that “We verify that this plane belonged to the Russian Federation and that it was destroyed by their very own forces.”
“They had been on alert, on fight readiness,” he added. “The human issue was at work — one of many operators was desperate to get a medal and did not hassle to seek out out whose airplane it was.”
The Moscow-installed chief of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, confirmed {that a} Russian warplane had “crashed” off the Crimean coast with out naming the trigger and that the pilot had ejected safely and “was picked up by rescue providers.”
Russian Telegram channels shared purported footage of the fighter jet burning because it fell.
The Crimean Wind Telegram channel, citing sources, claimed the airplane was by accident shot down by Russian forces after taking off from the Belbek navy airfield.
Russian propagandist Ilya Tumanov added that the fighter jet appeared to have been hit by anti-aircraft weapons.
The Rybar Telegram channel, managed by a former worker of the press service of the Russian Ministry of Protection, famous that the place the place the airplane crashed was “at a really massive distance from the entrance line” and that this could recommend a technical malfunction versus being downed by air protection.
On the identical time, “Rybar” and Russian navy correspondent Yuri Kotenok hypothesised that the fighter may have come beneath “pleasant hearth” from Russian air protection.
The Russian Ministry of Protection is but to formally touch upon the crash.
Enterprise Insider was unable to independently confirm these claims.
Russia’s aviation losses are mounting
A large Ukrainian missile raid final Sunday, which took out two of Russia’s massive touchdown ships, additionally hit Belbek Air Base. Based on the Ukrainian Middle for Protection Methods, the missiles took out one Su-27 fighter jet and broken two others.
Russia’s Air Drive suffered significantly heavy losses in late February and March, dropping greater than a dozen warplanes, together with Su-34 fighter bombers, Su-35 fighter jets, and two prized A-50 navy spy planes.
