Russia loses another A-50 AWACS plane
Another Russian A-50 Airborne Early Warning & Control (AWACS) aircraft was shot down over the Sea of Azov, according to reports in Russian media on Feb. 23.
The commander of Ukraine’s Air Force, Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk later confirmed that the Ukrainian military has destroyed a Russian A-50 plane.
Russian military media observers reported the loss of the aircraft at around 7:15 p.m. They claimed it was taken down in a friendly fire incident, with anti-air systems “mistakenly” targeting the A-50 from occupied Mariupol, Donetsk Oblast.
Local Russian social media accounts claim that the aircraft fell in Russia’s Krasnodar Krai, near the village of Trudovaya Armeniya. Locals say that explosions were heard after the crash.
This is the second Russian A-50 Ukrainian forces have managed to destroy since the beginning of 2024. On Jan. 14, an A-50 aircraft was downed in the same area—over the Sea of Azov. An Il-22 airborne command post plane was also damaged in the same operation, but it managed to land at a Russian airfield later. The Ukrainian military said the Il-22 was “beyond repair.”
On Feb. 22, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Ukrainian forces had shot down seven Russian military aircraft over the past week.
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