The commander of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Colonel General Mykola Oleschuk, announced the downing of a unique Russian A-50U radar detection aircraft over the Sea of Azov.
"I congratulate the occupiers on Defender of the Fatherland Day! You should celebrate at home..." he wrote in his Telegram channel.
Oleschuk expressed his gratitude to the servicemen of the Air Force and the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, who participated in the operation.
The Main Directorate of Intelligence confirmed the information about the downing of the A-50U aircraft. According to Ukrainian intelligence, a new modernized version of the plane, the cost of which is 350 million dollars, was shot down.
"A sharp decrease in the speed and altitude of the downed A-50U aircraft was recorded near the city of Yeisk," the Telegram channel of the Main Directorate of Intelligence reported, where the flight route of the aircraft was also published.
Earlier, information about the downing of an unknown plane in the region of the Sea of Azov appeared on social networks.
Russian mass media are currently reporting on the crash of two aircraft in the Krasnodar region near the coast of the Sea of Azov.
"Two aircraft fell on the territory of the Kaniv District of the Krasnodar Territory. A fire has started, there is no threat to residential buildings, reports the operational headquarters of the region," the official TASS news agency reported.
The Russian Ministry of Defense has not yet commented on the incident.
The A-50 is a Soviet and Russian long-range radar detection and control aircraft, and is designed to detect and track air and sea targets, as well as control air defense operations. Russia has only a few such aircraft.
"This is an air command post that the aggressor state used for long-range radar detection, control and guidance for strikes on Ukraine with missiles from strategic aviation," the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine explains. If the information about the downing of the A-50 plane is confirmed, it will be the second such plane shot down by the Ukrainian military. Another plane was damaged at an airfield in Belarus in February 2023.
On the evening of January 14, 2024, the first destruction of the A-50 was first reported by Ukrainian and then by Russian bloggers, and in the morning of January 15, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhnyi officially announced this. At the same time, the Russian Il-22 plane suffered significant damage, but the spokesman of the Ukrainian Air Force, Yuriy Ignat, emphasized that the A-50 plane was the primary target.
A-50 is a particularly valuable aircraft. They are much less than fighters. In Russia, there were only nine units of A-50 anti-aircraft defense aircraft and four modernized versions - A-50U.
Such an aircraft is a very important military target. These are the "eyes and ears" of the aviation group, and at the same time its "nerve center".
The long-range radar detection aircraft, called the A-50, is needed to control the airspace in which the air force operates, identify targets, coordinate and direct its combat aircraft.
It can track not only air, but also ground targets, for example, radars.
This is the most important element of any modern aviation operation. Such a radar expands the possibilities of airspace control where powerful ground stations and control centers are lacking.
