PUTIN SHOCK AS £228M BOMBER JET ‘SHOT DOWN BY UKRAINE’
VLADIMIR Putin was dealt a major blow yesterday after Ukraine claimed it shot down one of his £228million Tupolev Tu-22M3 bomber jets as it returned to Russia following a raid.
The plane caught fire in mid-flight and hurtled to the ground where it exploded and broke apart.
Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence claimed that Kyiv forces had downed the long-range bomber using an S-200 surface-to-air missile system.
Setback
The Tu-22M3 is part of Russia’s nuclear strike force and its loss is seen as a significant setback to Putin.
A spokesman for the GUR said: “One of the Tu-22M3 long-range bombers, which carried out a missile attack against Ukraine overnight, was shot down as a result of a special operation of the main directorate of intelligence in cooperation with the air force.”
He claimed the plane was destroyed at a distance of 185 miles from Ukraine by the “same means previously used to shoot down the Russian A-50 long-range radar detection and control aircraft”.
The GUR added: “As a result of the damage, the bomber was able to fly to the Stavropol region, where it fell and crashed.
“It should be noted that this is the first successful destruction of a strategic bomber in the air during combat during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.”
However, other reports claimed that Russian friendly fire may have brought the plane down.
Kremlin sources denied it had been hit by enemy fire and insisted there had been a fire on board.
Video footage released online showed the rear of the bomber ablaze as it fell to the ground and exploded.
The plane had just completed a bombing attack on Ukraine and all four crew members were reported to have ejected from the stricken jet, but one was later found to have died. The surviving three were said to have been rushed to hospital. The plane came down in a field in the Krasnogvardeysky district of Stavropol.
Governor Vladimir Vladimirov said: “Two pilots from the plane that crashed in the Krasnogvardeysky district have been found.
“They are alive – we are taking them to the hospital. All services went to the scene.” The Russian defence ministry claimed a “technical malfunction” was the likely cause of the downing while admitting the plane was returning from a strategic mission over Ukraine.
It added: “A Russian Air Force Tu-22M3 crashed in the Stavropol region after performing a combat mission while returning to its home airfield.
“The pilots ejected. Three crew members were evacuated by a search and rescue team.
Questions
“There was no ammunition on board. The aircraft went down in a deserted area. There is no damage on the ground.
“According to preliminary data, the cause of the accident was a technical malfunction.”
However, one witness to the crash said they believed that there had not been a technical problem.
“Now I have a lot of questions,” he said, suggesting that friendly fire may have been the cause.