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Moscow lost a Tu-22M3 supersonic bomber on Friday. Ukraine claims to have shot down the fighter plane – with an old Soviet weapon.
Stavropol – Moscow speaks of the loss of the Tu-22M3 supersonic bomber on Friday (April 19) as a crash for technical reasons, while Ukraine says it was shot down. That would be a novelty Ukraine war. The particular success is said to have been achieved with an old system from the Soviet era and once again demonstrates Ukraine's ingenuity.
Tu-22M3 shot down: Ukrainian forces allegedly used Soviet air defense system
Be NATO code name is “Backfire” (in German: counterfire): The Russian Tupolev Tu-22M3 flies faster than sound and can release cruise missiles over 300 kilometers behind the front. A safe distance – actually. The Ukrainian armed forces are said to have succeeded in shooting down such a strategic bomber with a missile for the first time, as the commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, Mykola Oleshchuk, announced on Friday.
Ukrainian military intelligence agency HUR said Ukrainian forces shot down the Tu-22M3 at a distance of 300 kilometers from Ukraine using the same means that recently shot down two Russian A-50 spy planes. The secret service was referring to the S-200 anti-aircraft system from Soviet times. The Ukrainian newspaper also received corresponding information Kyiv Independent According to intelligence sources, an S-200 system was used to allegedly shoot down the Tupolev.
Turning point in the air war? Tupolev shooting points to new range
The Soviet S-200 air and missile defense system was originally designed, according to the US think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). entered service in the 1960s and loud Kyiv Independent actually decommissioned in Ukraine in 2013. “There are four active S-200 batteries in Ukraine, approximately 24 delivery systems, and another twelve inactive sites,” CSIS wrote in 2021. Last year, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed converted Ukrainian S-200 missiles over the Rostov, Kursk and Kaluga Oblasts as well as occupied Crimea. There was no official confirmation from Ukraine. The official range of the system is a maximum of 300 kilometers.
But Ukrainian government circles said in August 2023 BBC News: “Under the current circumstances, we must look for a way out. “We came up with these S-200s and they seem to be working well so far,” said weapons expert Andrii Kharuk Kyiv Independent said that although it is not possible to produce new S-200 missiles, it is possible to repair old ones to make them combat-ready. “If the crews of Russian strategic bombers previously felt completely unpunished, they now see that they are accessible. Let’s hope this is the first step of this kind,” Kharuk continued.
British Ministry of Defense comments on Tupolev crash
According to the British Ministry of Defense, the Tupolev crash was most likely caused by a Ukrainian S-200 missile. “This is the first time that a strategic bomber was shot down by Ukrainian anti-aircraft systems. It is very likely that Russia has now lost at least 100 fighter jets so far,” Das wrote British Ministry of Defense on Saturday on Platform X. Also the independent database Oryx Using geolocated images, counts 100 destroyed and nine damaged Russian aircraft (as of April 22, 2024).
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According to HUR spokesman Andriy Yusov, the shooting down of the Tupolev also forced another Tu-22M3 to turn back. It was “virtually impossible” for Russia to produce new bombers of this type, it said Report by the US war experts at the Institute for the Study of War citing Yusow's information. Former NATO general Erhard Bühler commented on the incident in the MDR podcast “What to do, Mr. General?” that the Tupolev is a “modern, heavy bomber that the Russians do not have in the majority.” The shooting down by an S-200 was “still speculation and not yet a fact,” the ex-general continued on Friday.
Ukraine also has other Russian aircraft in its sights. In particular, the Su-24 and Su-35S models, which Putin's air force uses to drop the dreaded glide bombs.
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