Russia Grounds Aircraft After Losing Advanced A-50 Spy Plane: Kyiv

Russia has reportedly grounded a handful of military aircraft after one of its prized spy planes was shot down on Friday, according to the Ukrainian government.

The Beriev A-50 plane, also known by the NATO reporting name "Mainstay," is an airborne early warning and control jet used by Russia to help monitor Ukraine's air defenses. The aircraft typically fly with a crew of up to 15 personnel and are estimated to cost over $300 million to produce. The Russian military currently deploys a modernized version of the plane, known as the A-50U, which, among other things, replaces the original craft's analog systems with digital ones for faster signal tracking and target detection.

On Friday, the Ukrainian Air Force claimed that it had shot down an A-50U craft over the Sea of Azov near the city of Primorsko-Akhtarsk, the second one of the prized spy planes that Kyiv had claimed responsibility for destroying this year. Despite those claims from Ukrainian officials, however, Russian military bloggers later claimed that the craft was accidentally brought down by "friendly fire."

Russian government officials have not yet commented on the matter. Newsweek reached out to the Russian Ministry of Defense via email for comment on Saturday morning. Any responses received will be added to this story in an update.

In a Saturday update posted to its official Facebook, the Main Directorate of Intelligence for the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense further claimed that the Russian military had recalled five other aircraft off their assigned missions and kept them grounded in the wake of the most recent A-50U loss.

"An additional sign of the success of the joint operation of the GUR of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is the order to stop the missions for two Su-35 aircraft, as well as three Su-34 planes of the Russian Federation, which were performing tasks near the N.P. Millerovo - some of them planned to carry out airstrikes near Avdiivka," the directorate wrote in its post.

Newsweek could not independently verify the claims contained in the post. Each side of the conflict is known to claim greater losses for the other, and lesser losses for themselves.

The Su-34 planes mentioned in the post are Russia's premiere supersonic bomber crafts, of which its military is estimated to have lost roughly 25 since the start of the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022. The Su-35 planes are fighter jets used to escort Su-34s during missions.

Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.