Ukraine’s navy mentioned on Monday its air pressure destroyed a Russian Beriev A-50 surveillance aircraft and an Ilyushin Il-22 airborne command put up within the Sea of Azov space in an operation that would delay some future Russian missile strikes.
Kyiv didn’t disclose how the subtle plane had been struck almost two years since Moscow’s full-scale invasion. The Sea of Azov lies roughly 100 km (60 miles) from areas Kyiv holds. Russia’s protection ministry had no rapid remark.
Ukrainian military chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, who introduced the hits on Telegram messenger, posted a video of an plane monitoring map suggesting the planes had been struck over the Sea of Azov, which lies to the east of the occupied Crimean peninsula.
Reuters was unable to confirm his assertion independently.
The A-50, which first got here into service close to the top of the Soviet period, is a big Airborne Early Warning and Control plane that may scan an space a number of hundred kilometers throughout for enemy plane, ships and missiles.
Natalia Humeniuk, spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern navy command, informed a briefing that Russia had used the aircraft extensively to organize for and conduct long-range missile strikes on Ukraine.
“We count on such a strike (on the A-50) to be pretty painful and, a minimum of, to delay highly effective missile strikes,” she mentioned.
Some Russian navy bloggers mentioned the downing of the A-50 can be an enormous loss for Russia’s air pressure, since there was a restricted variety of the planes in service.
“There should not many A-50s. And the specialists working them are usually uncommon. If an plane of this kind is hit, the crew will be unable to flee.”
The Ukrainian protection ministry valued the A-50 at $330 million.
It was not clear what number of A-50s Russia has in service.
London-based assume tank IISS mentioned in a 2021 report that Russia had 9 A-50 plane in operation, together with 4 modernized A-50U planes.
The Russian protection ministry mentioned early final yr that the modernized A-50U had been finishing up missions in the course of the struggle in Ukraine.
The plane, which works by the NATO reporting identify of Mainstay, can detect greater than 300 targets concurrently, it mentioned. It can detect and observe a missile launch at a distance of 800 km and floor and sea targets at 300 km.