Ukrainian Air Force reportedly shoots down Russian radar plane over Azov Sea

Update: Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi confirmed that Ukrainian forces shot down a Russian A-50 and Il-22. “Thank you to the Air Force for an excellently planned and performed operation in the Azov Sea region!” he wrote on Telegram.

Ukraine’s Air Force shot down a Russian A-50 radar plane over the Azov Sea on Sunday evening local time, news outlets RBC Ukraine, Suspilne, and Hromadske reported, citing their own sources.

The strike reportedly occurred near the village of Kyrylivka in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region. According to Ukrainian media, the pilot of a Russian Su-30 fighter jet saw another aircraft catch fire and descend.

Additionally, RBC Ukraine said that Ukrainian troops shot down a Russian Il-22M11 airborne command post near the village of Strilkove in the Kherson region on Sunday evening, after which the plane’s crew reportedly requested an evacuation and called for emergency medical assistance.

Yuriy Mysyagin, the deputy chairman of the Ukrainian parliament’s National Security, Defense, and Intelligence Committee, said that the aircraft disappeared from radar after it began descending near Kerch in Crimea.

The Ukrainian Air Force has not officially commented on these reports.