Russian Air Force suffer the biggest losses since the beginning of the war

Among the planes that crashed was a Russian Su-35 fighter. Photo: Yuri Smityuk/Getty

The Russian Air Force suffered its worst day of casualties in 14 months on Saturday after the crash of two fighter jets and two helicopters under mysterious circumstances.

Russian Telegram channels continued to update data on the crashed aircraft in the Bryansk region of Russia near the border with Ukraine.

The Russian Defense Ministry did not immediately comment on the plane crashes, several of which were caught on camera.

In the absence of an official explanation for the disasters, aviation analysts and Russian military bloggers have speculated that they were either shot down by friendly fire or Ukrainian air defenses, or gunned down in the sky by Ukrainian air ambush.

Some commentators have even suggested that combat the planes could have crashed as a result of sabotage.

The plane was shot down in the Bryansk region of Russia. Ukraine.

“Fighters were supposed to launch a missile and bomb attack on targets in the Chernihiv region of Ukraine, and helicopters were supposed to support them, picking up the crews of the Sukhoi if they were shot down by enemy fire,” the message says.

Fighterbomber, a pro-Russian Telegram channel with close ties to the Russian Air Force, said this was the highest number of Russian aircraft shot down in a single day «since last March.»

Russia is believed to have lost four in early March. combat aircraft in one day, and at the beginning of the invasion, her forces suffered even greater losses of aircraft.

One Telegram video appears to show the burning wreckage of one of the helicopters that crashed near the village.

p>Nine pilots died in air crashes

Russian media reported that nine pilots died in separate crashes involving two Mi-8 helicopters, a Su-34 fighter and a Su-35 fighter.

At least one of the helicopters was a Mi-8 variant MTPR-1, which carries sophisticated equipment that suppresses enemy missile defenses. systems, analysts say.

The Russian military reportedly only had 20 of these specially equipped helicopters in service.

Like the rest of the military, the Russian Air Force has performed poorly ever since the Kremlin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Despite the numerical superiority of the Ukrainian Air Force, the Russian Air Force failed to dominate the skies.

Last year, several Russian fighter jets crashed in Russia, and last month at least one bomb fell from a Russian military aircraft over Belgorod near Ukraine.

He landed next to a busy road, damaging buildings but not killing or injuring anyone.