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Footage has emerged of the moment Ukraine shot down a high-tech Russian bomber over the Black Sea in a major win against Vladimir Putin’s forces.
The supersonic twin-engine warplane was preparing to strike in the Odesa region when it was blown out of the sky by Ukrainian air defences near Snake Island, also known as Zmiinyi Island.
A desperate Russian search for the crew of two failed to locate the two pilots, after they were reportedly ejected from the craft.
The incident has been hailed by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, who praised his air defences for downing the Su-24M tactical bomber.
In his nightly address, Mr Zelensky said: ‘Just today a Russian combat aircraft was shot down in the area of Snake Island in the Black Sea.
’The plane was planning on striking Odesa region. So the terrorists have lost another one.
’We will continue to make sure the terrorists have losses. We are strengthening our air defence system.’
The aircraft burst into flames after being struck (Picture: East2West)
The war plane is one of Putin’s prized possessions (Picture: East2West)
A United States-manufactured Patriot air defence system downed the aircraft, it is believed.
General Mykola Oleshchuk, 51, air force commander, said: ‘It’s been a long time since we had a Russian Su plane in our inventory.’
Another social media post by Ukrainian forces joked the Su-24M ‘joined the missile-cruiser Moskva on the seafloor’.
The Moskva warship – which was central to Russian attacks on southern Ukraine – sank in April 2022 after a reported Ukrainian missile strike.
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It was also the warship which threatened Ukrainian soldiers stationed on Snake Island in the early days of the war.
On February 24, 2022 – the first day of Russia’s full-scale invasion – the Ukrainian border guard famously told the Moskva: ‘Russian warship, go f*** yourself,’ when prompted to surrender.
Russian sources have acknowledged the loss of the Su-24M which was staging an attack while under cover from an Su-30SM fighter.
The US Patriot system which downed the plane is capable of attacking within a 100 mile range – much larger than Ukraine’s former air defence systems, which had a radius of 75 miles.
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