Ukrainian air-defenses reportedly shot down two of the Russian air force’s rarest and most valuable command aircraft on Sunday: a Beriev A-50 radar early-warning plane and an Ilyushin Il-22 airborne command post.

Ukrainian media has cited government officials confirming the purported shoot-downs, but there’s little hard evidence of the incidents.

Ukraine’s RBC Radio posted what it claimed was an audio recording of the Il-22’s crew radioing an S-O-S to controllers apparently in Anapa, on the Russian side of the Sea of Azov’s southern coast. “Urgently requesting ambulance and fire crew,” the crew radioed.

    • rivermonster
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      1810 months ago

      Absolutely, I’m dying for some details, and what a massive loss for Russia. If true, they won’t be able to use these most effectively (having to force them to stand off) or possibly at all (deoensing on what happened). That would definitely be massive