(CNN) — Russia’s air force may have suffered one of its worst days since the war in Ukraine began. Unconfirmed reports said four of its planes were shot down inside Russian territory, marking a significant coup for Ukraine.
There are conflicting accounts about how many planes and helicopters may have been brought into the Russian region of Bryansk, but a Russian media outlet said at least two combat planes – a Su-34 and one Su-35 – and two Mi-8 helicopters crashed.
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A file image of a Russian Air Force Mil Mi-8 attack helicopter, the type that was reportedly shot down.
Ukraine has not confirmed that its air defenses were involved in the reported downing of the Russian plane on Saturday, but said the plane “became problematic.”
Bryansk is on the border with Ukraine and has seen past attacks blamed on Kyiv.
Multiple crashes within Russian territory at the same time are unprecedented. Some analysts believe that Ukrainian air defenses may have been pushed forward because the Russian air force is using more “glide munitions” that can fire at targets from a distance.
The spokesman of the Ukrainian air force, Yuriy Ihnat, said Sunday that a “Russian strike air group attacked Ukraine from the north, from Bryansk Oblast. They do this almost every day. They carry out strikes using guided bombs.”
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This time, he said, “they have a problem. They want to bomb our civilians, our peaceful people. He called it a “black day” for Russian aviation.
Social media videos geolocated by CNN showed at least one helicopter crashing near the town of Klintsy in Bryansk, which is 50 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
Aleksandr Bogomaz, the Governor of Bryansk, confirmed that a helicopter had crashed, injuring a civilian, but did not give details of the cause.
Another video, showing a plane descending and a column of black smoke, was geolocated in a village in Bryansk about 25 kilometers from Klintsy.
Russia’s official news agency TASS published video of a helicopter exploding in mid-air and confirmed that a Su-34 fighter had crashed, without disclosing the cause.
There was no word from the Russian Defense Ministry about the incident, but an unofficial Russian Telegram channel described it as the worst day for Russian military aviation since March last year.
The Russian newspaper Kommersant said that “a group of two Mi-8 helicopters and Su-34 and Su-35 fighters crashed in Bryansk Oblast,” and suggested that more helicopters were hit.
It added: “The attackers are being hunted on the ground and in the air.”
Kommersant reported that “fighters are to carry out missile-bombing strikes on targets in Ukraine’s Chernihiv Region, while helicopters will back them up, including picking up Su crews if they are shot down by enemy fire. All four machines did not return to the airfield. Their pilots were killed.”
The Kommersant report could not be independently verified. But other Russian sources have begun to discuss the incident, with a popular Telegram channel posting about the conflict saying: “We are talking about a carefully planned. [Ukrainian] operation here.”
merchant/Telegram
Smoke rises after the SU-34 warplane crashed in Bryansk, Russia on May 13.
Andrei Medvedev, a representative of the Moscow city council, said Saturday that four planes were missing and added: “Luhansk yesterday [a reference to missile strikes on the city], a strike in our air force today. Checking the defenses. Where it is broken. And rear strikes, infrastructure, and aviation.
Another Russian Telegram channel that posts daily about the conflict claims that the Ukrainians “launched rockets from the Chernihiv region, close to the border.”
Daniil Bezsonov, a Russian military blogger, posted on Saturday that “The enemy probably acted from an ambush of the air defense forces, which moved first to the border zone, where the distance- on will allow our air group to be hit. So the enemy probably knows the route and time of departure of our air group.”
There is also fear among Russian bloggers that a Mi-8 helicopter that was shot down had advanced jamming equipment.
A Russian Telegram account called it “complete nonsense” to send such a helicopter so close to Ukrainian defenses, saying “you have to be completely detached from reality” to send such specially equipped Mi-8 in such a zone.
Military analysts speculate that Ukraine may be pushing its air defenses closer to the border in regions like Chernihiv to counter Russia’s growing use of bombs that can be launched from a distance, virtually operational. as a missile.
Ihnat said last month that the Russian military had converted FAB-500 high-explosive aerial bombs into cruise missiles. They used these bombs “from a distance beyond the reach of Ukraine’s air defense,” he said.
Mykola Oleshchuk, the commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, also suggested that the nature of the threat had changed.
“The planes of the Russians did not enter the damage zone of our air defenses, hitting far from the front line and close to the front line cities,” he said on Telegram in April.
Saturday’s events in Bryansk suggest that the zone may have been extended into Russian territory.
It also suggests – as many unofficial Russian sources point out – that Ukraine in this case has detailed intelligence about the planned Russian mission. That could be as big a concern to Russia as the loss of four planes over Russian territory
