Four military aircraft shot down in Russia in a few hours

In the Briansk region, an Su-34 fighter-bomber, an Su-35 fighter and two Mi-8 helicopters of the Russian Air Force crashed on Saturday.. According to the Russian newspaper 'Kommersant' they could have been shot down almost simultaneously in this border region with Ukraine. All the crew died.

The aircraft were part of the same air group. Their mission was to launch a missile and bomb attack against targets in the Chernihiv region of Ukraine.

Authorities in Russia's Briansk region only confirmed a helicopter “accident”. The Russian agency TASS, citing the emergency services, reported on the accident of a helicopter and a Su-34 fighter.. Later, information began to spread on Telegram channels that a total of two helicopters and two planes had crashed in the Bryansk region.. This would be one of the largest one-day losses of Russian aircraft since the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine.

A first version suggests that the demolition could be the work of saboteurs on Russian soil with portable air defense systems (MANPADS).. Or if not the Ukrainian air defense, since the distance from the border to the furthest place where the helicopter crashed is almost 50 kilometers. Patriot, NASAMS or S-300 missiles would be at that limit. It could also be Ukrainian aviation with new US weapons.

It could also be that they were shot down by “friendly fire” from the Russian air defense. It has been suggested by several Ukrainian Telegram channels but it seems unlikely, especially given the number of targets that have been confused with a single hit in an area where Ukrainians do not usually fly.

One of the helicopters crashed near the city of Klintsy. According to the TASS agency, two people died. An emergency services source said the helicopter crashed due to an engine fire, but an explosion was heard in videos posted on social media.. The Russian channel Baza claims that the special services confirmed the crash of the other helicopter, in the Unechsky district near Volkustichi. Eyewitnesses published a video of the fall of this second helicopter.

Other sources from Russian military analysts located the two downed military planes and two helicopters, presumed downed, all near the border with Ukraine.. “These are two helicopters and two planes that were returning from a combat mission and were attacked. Both Mi-8s fell on Klintsy. The Su-34s and Su-35s crashed near the Ukrainian border, near Starodub,” the Voenacher Telegram channel said in a post.

CASUALTIES ON THE RUSSIAN SIDE

The head of the Briansk region, Alexander Bogomaz, confirmed the accident of a helicopter in the region and announced that there were civilian victims.. “As a result of the incident, there is one victim among the civilians: a woman. Currently she has been taken to the hospital in the area, she is receiving all the necessary medical attention,” he wrote.

Russia has been on guard for months about the possibility of Ukrainian attacks on its territory. Police in St. Petersburg announced Friday that it has created an anti-drone unit to detect unmanned aerial vehicles after a drone attack on the Kremlin earlier this month.

The attacks have also occurred in the territories occupied by the Russians. Russia's Defense Ministry said on Saturday that Ukrainian planes had bombed two industrial facilities in the city of Lugansk (in eastern Ukraine, occupied by Russia since 2014) with British-supplied Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles.. Britain is the first country to announce that it has started supplying Kiev with long-range cruise missiles, which will enable it to attack Russian troops and their supply depots far behind the front lines.

The week has been fateful for the Russian air force. Two Russian pilots were killed yesterday when a Russian Mi-28 military helicopter crashed in the occupied Crimean peninsula, Russian news agencies reported, citing the Defense Ministry.. A mechanical failure was claimed, TASS reported.

The Russian Defense Ministry also said Russian forces had gained control of another area in the eastern city of Bakhmut, which Moscow has been trying to capture for more than 10 months with slow progress and some setbacks.. Russia acknowledged the day before that its forces had retreated north of Bakhmut after a new offensive, in a withdrawal that the head of the Russian mercenary army Wagner described as a “defeat”.. Ukrainian forces claimed this morning that they had recovered at least a kilometer of territory in Bakhmut after the Russian withdrawal in recent days.

FIRE IN THE CENTER OF MOSCOW

Muscovites returned to look at the sky with concern today. This time they were not drones, but a huge black smoke. In the center of Moscow a fire broke out next to the place where the famous Intercontinental Hotel is located, located in the middle of Tverskaya street. The street is the equivalent of Moscow's Grand Via and leads directly to Red Square. According to MSK1, a construction site near the hotel caught fire. According to preliminary data, no one was injured.