This was stated by the head of the Defense Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov, in an interview with the Financial Times.
"The A-50 was shot down and exploded. The Il-22 was badly damaged. But, unfortunately for us, it managed to make an emergency landing in Anapa (a city in the Krasnodar region of the russian federation. - ed.)," said the head of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence.
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Russia has only eight A-50s in good condition, Budanov said.
According to Ukraine’s Spy Chief, the destruction of the aircraft will probably affect the ability of the russian federation to operate and maintain communication in the conflict zone around the clock.
In their turne, they in Operational Command South of the Defense Forces of Ukraine say that russia used the destroyed Russian A-50 aircraft to launch powerful missile strikes against Ukraine, so its elimination may delay future missile attacks.
It was with the help of the A-50 that russian forces identified and planned future targets, therefore, iti is expected that such a strike will be quite sensitive and will at least postpone future missile strikes.
As Defense Express reported, on January 15, Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi and the Air Force confirmed the downing of russian A-50 AWACS and IL-22 Airborne Command Center. We also wrote on How Dangerously Close a Patriot Must be to Shoot Down a russian A-50 Over the Sea of Azov.
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