A fighter jet has been shot down in Kherson Region. Telegram channels are spreading a video capturing the moment of its crash. Most likely, it was a Russian Su-35. Its pilot is reported to have ejected safely.
The version that the plane was Russian and that it was taken down by a friendly air defense system has been voiced on both Ukrainian and Russian channels.
As the Ukrainian Air Force reports, the plane was shot down near Nova Kakhovka.
On July 17, a Russian Su-34 fighter plane crashed near the Ukrainian town of Alchevsk. Judging by the video of the wreckage, it is a rare make, Su-34M (M for “modernized”, meaning updated electronics, high-precision weapons, and a set of pods with surveillance equipment) with a flight number RF-95890. The aircraft belonged to the 277th Bomber Aviation Regiment of the 303rd Mixed Division of the 11th Krasnoznamennaya Army of the Russian Air Force and Anti-Missile Defense of the Eastern Military District.
Pro-Kremlin Telegram channels have spread the version that the fighter was mistakenly taken down by friendly fire when the air defense unit was targeting missiles launched by Ukrainians with US-supplied HIMARS multiple rocket launchers. The crew is reported to have catapulted and to have been successfully evacuated. Ukrainian sources have partially confirmed this account. Oryx, one of the most credible OSINT sources gathering data on military equipment losses in the war in Ukraine, has also reported the loss of the Russian aircraft.
