- Russian armed forces appear to have shot down their own Su-27 fighter jet over occupied Crimea.
- A Ukrainian spokesman said human error was to blame for the Russian blunder.
- Russia’s air losses increased significantly in 2024.
Russian armed forces shot down one of their own Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jets over Crimea on Thursday, Ukrainian officials say.
Ukrainian Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk told Ukrainian television: “We confirm that this plane belonged to the Russian Federation and was destroyed by its own forces.”
“They were on alert, ready to fight,” he added. “The human factor was at work: one of the operators was eager to get a medal and didn’t bother to find out who the plane belonged to.”
Moscow-based Sevastopol chief Mikhail Razvojaev confirmed that a Russian warplane “crashed” off the coast of Crimea without naming the cause and that the pilot ejected safely and ” had been recovered by the emergency services.
Russian Telegram channels shared purported footage of the fighter jet on fire as it fell.
The Crimean Wind Telegram channel, citing sources, claimed that the plane was accidentally shot down by Russian forces after taking off from the Belbek military airfield.
Russian propagandist Ilya Tumanov added that the fighter jet appeared to have been hit by anti-aircraft weapons.
The Rybar Telegram channel, run by a former employee of the press service of the Russian Defense Ministry, emphasized that the place where the plane crashed was “at a very great distance from the front line” and that this would suggest a technical malfunction as opposed to being shot down by air defense.
At the same time, “Rybar” and Russian military correspondent Yuri Kotenok speculated that the fighter could have fallen under “friendly fire” of Russian air defense.
The Russian Defense Ministry has not yet officially commented on the accident.
Business Insider has not been able to independently verify these claims.
Russian air force losses increase
Last Sunday, a massive Ukrainian missile raid, which destroyed two of Russia’s large landing ships, also hit the Belbek airbase. According to the Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies, the missiles destroyed one Su-27 fighter jet and damaged two others.
The Russian Air Force suffered particularly heavy losses in late February and March, losing more than a dozen warplanes, including Su-34 fighter-bombers, Su-35 fighter jets and two valuable A-50 military spy planes.
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