“We shot down Russian spy plane” – Ukraine

Ukraine’s military shot down a Russian spy plane over the Sea of Azov. This is bad news for Russia’s air force.

General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, leader of the army, said the air force “destroyed” a long range radar detection plane and an air control center.

The A-50 finds enemy air defenses and helps Russian jets know where to attack.

Ukraine has had a hard time making progress against Russian forces in the southeast.

Russian officials said they didn’t know about the attacks, but important Russian people who support war said that losing an A-50 would be a big deal.

A well-known military channel, Rybar, said that if Ukraine’s report about the Russian losses was true, it would be a very bad day for the Russian air force.

Another channel reported that the Il-22 command center was hit by Russian “friendly fire”.

Gen Zaluzhnyi said on the internet that Ukraine’s air force did a very good job with a plan in the Azov region, which is in the south-east part of Ukraine.

Mykola Oleshchuk, who is in charge of the Ukrainian Air Force, talked about the airplane crash in a message on the app Telegram, but didn’t give any specific information.

Justin Bronk, who knows a lot about air wars, said to the BBC that if it’s true that Russia lost an A-50, it would be a really big and embarrassing loss for their air force.

He said the A-50 is an important plane that helps Russian aircraft and missiles get early warning and information about low-flying Ukrainian planes.

He said there are only a few of these planes in the Russian air force and not many trained crews. If one is lost, it would be a big problem.

He said if it’s approved, it would be a very far-reaching attack for Ukrainian Patriot air defense missiles, pushing the weapon to its limits.

Frank Gardner, who reports on security for the BBC, said it’s a small piece of good news for Ukraine in the middle of a lot of bad news.

He said things are not going well for Ukraine. They don’t have enough ammunition, their soldiers are not feeling good, and Russia keeps attacking their infrastructure.