Two Russian fighter jets and two military helicopters were shot down on Saturday in a southern Russian region bordering Ukraine.
According to a report in Reuters, a Su-34 fighter-bomber, Su-35 fighter and two Mi-8 helicopters were part of a raiding party when the accident occurred.
“According to preliminary data … the fighters were supposed to deliver a missile and bomb attack on targets in the Chernihiv region of Ukraine, and the helicopters were there to back them up – among other things to pick up the ‘Su’ crews if they were shot down,” the report quoted Kommersant, a respected, independent business-focused daily, as saying.
Alexander Bogomaz, the governor of the Bryansk region in southern Russia, confirmed that one helicopter was crashed in the town of Klintsy. He did not say what happened to the crew but added that a woman suffered injuries and was hospitalised.
Meanwhile, videos emerged on social media showing a helicopter shot down over Russia’s Bryansk region bordering Ukraine.
The Russian state news agency TASS said a Russian Su-34 warplane had crashed in that region but did not specify a cause.
TASS also cited an emergency services official as saying an engine fire in a helicopter had caused it to crash near Klintsy, which is about 40 km (25 miles) from the border. It made no mention of the Su-35, or of a second helicopter.
However, a video posted on the Russian pro-war Telegram channel Voyenniy Osvedomitel, which has about half a million followers, showed a helicopter high in the sky suffering an explosion, being thrown off course and then plunging towards the ground in flames.
Comments accompanying the video said it showed a Mi-8 being shot down by a missile. Other images posted by the channel showed wreckage in an agricultural field.
Kommersant provided no evidence for its report that four aircraft had been downed, but the same assertion was also made by several heavily followed pro-war military bloggers.
Voyenniy Osvedomitel said it appeared that “most likely, the enemy staged an ambush with air defences previously transferred to a border zone close enough to hit our group”.
It said the downed helicopters appeared to be Mi-8MTPR-1 electronic warfare craft able to jam enemy radio and targeting signals.
Kommersant said all four crews had been killed.
There was no official response from Ukraine, which usually declines to comment on reports of attacks inside Russia.
However, in a tweet, Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, called the incident “Justice … and instant karma”.
(With inputs from Reuters)
