Watch: Russia ‘by accident shoots down personal spy aircraft’

Russian forces have by accident shot down their very own £275 million spy aircraft over occupied Ukraine, pro-Kremlin navy bloggers have mentioned.

Vladimir Romanov mentioned that the Beriev A-50 Soviet-built aircraft crashed close to the Sea of Azov after it was hit by a missile fired from Mariupol, the Ukrainian metropolis that Russian forces captured in 2022.

“The enemy has nothing to do with it once more. The launches have been from the Mariupol space,” he informed his 140,000 followers. “After being hit by an air defence missile (not fired by the enemy), the A-50 broke into two elements.”

Mr Romanov additionally uploaded two movies of the alleged taking pictures down of the A-50. The primary video reveals air defence missiles concentrating on a aircraft and the second of the alleged crash web site with a lady commentator describing a “big explosion”.

That is the second A-50 spy aircraft that Russia has misplaced within the house of simply over a month. In January, Ukraine mentioned that it had shot down an A-50 over the Sea of Azov.

Though Ukrainian commanders claimed that their forces had shot down the A-50 on Friday night, Fighterbomber, one other Russian Telegram channel with shut ties to Russia’s air pressure, mentioned that it was too removed from the frontline to have been struck by Ukrainian air defences.

“It’s not attainable to say in the mean time who shot it down,” he mentioned. “However that is 256km (159 miles) from the frontline…”

The Russian ministry of defence has not but commented on the incident.

Russia’s A-50 planes are the dimensions of a transport aircraft and have a crew of 15. They carry an enormous fastened radar on the highest of their fuselage and are thought of important for giving navy commanders visibility over the battlefield.

Russia allegedly solely began the conflict with 9 A-50s and reportedly isn’t capable of manufacture any extra.

Russia’s well-connected navy bloggers have typically criticised Russian navy commanders and leaked data that has embarrassed the Kremlin.

This week, a Russian navy blogger reportedly shot himself after being pressured to delete posts revealing that 17,000 Russian troopers had been killed within the seize of Avdiivka, an announcement that had angered the Russian ministry of defence.

Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Attempt The Telegraph free for 3 months with limitless entry to our award-winning web site, unique app, money-saving gives and extra.