Recent social media footage captures a burning aircraft on the ground, suspected to be the A-50 Mainstay airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) jet, yet the exact circumstances remain unclear. It’s uncertain whether the Ukrainian military or Russian air defense systems caused the downing.
According to Russian sources, the A-50 was brought down by friendly fire over the Sea of Azov. However, there’s speculation that technical malfunction could have contributed to the crash.
The Beriev A-50, also known as the Mainstay, plays a crucial role as Russia’s AEW&C aircraft, utilizing the Ilyushin Il-76 platform. The loss of such aircraft for the Russians is significant.
This incident potentially marks the second A-50 downing since Russia initiated its aggression against Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
In January 2023, another A-50 was shot down in the Sea of Azov, along with an Il-22 that managed to land with significant damage after being hit by a missile.
“According to Russian sources, the A-50 was brought down by friendly fire over the Sea of Azov. However, there’s speculation that technical malfunction could have contributed to the crash.”
I don’t really care what brought it down, whether it was orc incompetence or orc engineering. It’s one less plane in their fleet, and they have very few of these planes.
Minus THREE A-50s now!
Oooops!
Slava Ukraini~~!!!!!
The orcs will blame anything on a plane falling out of the sky, except admitting Ukraine that did it.
As always, you’re right again. UA telegram channels are saying the shots came from UA-controlled land.
Yeah, so few, maybe only four operational ones, that even a single loss can have consequences for surveiling the airspace over southeastern Ukraine. It may be that Russia can’t conduct continous radar surveillance anymore. And this would open new loopholes for Ukrainian airstrikes. So, this can have farreaching consequences. Great news for the AFU!
Denmark will provide the AFU with 9 billion dollars of military aid until 2028. Ukraine may not defeat Putler but we’ll make sure he won’t defeat Ukraine. BTW, fuck Trump and Johnson! Slava Ukrayiny! 🇺🇦✌🇩🇰