The Ukrainian Air Force shot down a Russian plane in the Sea of Azov region AWACS A-50 and Il-22 reconnaissance aircraft. Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Army Valery Zaluzhny announced this in his telegram channel.
Sources of “Hromadske”, “Suspilne” and “RBC-Ukraine” claim that the attack on the A-50 was carried out the day before, on January 14, around 21:10-21:15 Kiev time in the area occupied by the Russians troops of the village of Kirillovka, Zaporozhye region.
Il-22, according to the publications' interlocutors, was attacked on the same day at about 21:00 in the area of the village of Strelkovoe on the Arabatskaya Strelka. RBC-Ukraine published a supposedly intercepted conversation between the pilots of the plane and the dispatcher at the Anapa airfield. They ask to evacuate them, and also call an ambulance and firefighters. The authenticity of the recording cannot yet be confirmed.
Russian military telegram channels, in particular Fighterbomber, publish photographs that presumably show the tail of an Il-22 returning to earth. The same telegram channel indirectly confirmed the downing of the A-50: “to the dead, eternal flight, to the wounded, a speedy recovery and return to duty.”
In addition, military correspondents Kirill Fedorov, Alexey Sukonkin, as well as the telegram channels “Two” Major» and «Informant» write that the planes could have been hit by Russian air defense forces.
The Russian Ministry of Defense has not yet commented on this information.
A-50 is a long-range radar aircraft with a flight crew of five people. In total, Russia had nine such aircraft of various modifications in service in 2022.
Il-22 is an air command post from which you can control troops during combat operations. Since it is in the air, it cannot be hit by operational-tactical missiles. The ship's flight crew is five people. In total, at the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Russia had no more than 12 such aircraft in service, one of which was shot down by Wagner PMC mercenaries during the rebellion of Yevgeny Prigozhin.