THIS is the moment Ukraine appears to shoot down a Russia Su-30 fighter jet worth £38million.
Dramatic footage shows the plane spiralling into the Black Sea off the coast of occupied Crimea after it fired missiles at Ukrainian targets.
Video shared by Ukraine’s military showed its fighter jet targeting the Russian Su-30 jet
It could be seen nosediving towards the sea off the coast of Crimea
Part of the video appeared to show one of the jet’s missiles shooting through the sky
The Russian Su-30 jets are a valuable part of Vladimir Putin’s war chest used in his invasion of Ukraine
Video shared by Ukraine‘s forces shows the plane nosediving from the sky after an impressive assault.
It had unleashed four out of the jet’s six Kh-31P supersonic anti-radar missiles at unspecified Ukrainian targets.
Some Russian Telegram channels claimed the Su-30 from Saki military airfield in Crimea suffered mystery technical problems before it crashed.
Debris including a wing and an oil slick from the supersonic warplane were later found in waters off the annexed peninsula.
Telegram channel Voevoda Veshchaet tried to claim there was no combat contact which could have downed the plane.
But Kyiv’s military intelligence said: “During an operation in the waters of the Black Sea, soldiers of the special unit of the GUR of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine destroyed a Russian Su-30SM combat aircraft.
“The fighter that fell into the sea belonged to the 43rd separate naval aviation regiment of the Russian Armed Forces, which is based at the airfield of the city of Saki in the temporarily occupied Crimea.
“The occupiers lost contact with their warship on September 11, 2024 around 5am.”
It is the latest blow to Russian despot Vladimir Putin who is suffering huge losses in border region Kursk.
Ukraine launched the biggest incursion onto Russian soil since World War Two on August 6 – and is still holding huge swathes of enemy territory.
He also faced a drone onslaught only days ago which reached Moscow – with Ukrainian UAV’s sparking fires in a residential area only 30 miles south of the Kremlin.
The Russain Su-27 and Su-30 jets are prized pieces of Moscow‘s military kit.
They are often used as part of Putin’s illegal invasion and war against Ukraine.
He has now lost a dozen of the planes in sustained precision strikes by Ukraine.
Kyiv said Russia launched a rescue op for the downed aircraft and later found its wreckage some 70 kilometres out to sea, northwest off the coast of Cape Tarkhankut.
The Russian crew of two were unable to eject and declared dead after a search operation failed to find them.
The pilot was Captain Egor Stepanishin, 26, from Novosibirsk in Siberia, working with weapons officer Captain Fomin.
Vladimir Putin’s fighter jet blows
BY ELLIE DOUGHTY, Foreign News Reporter
UKRAINE has proven to be crafty and resourceful when striking down valuable Russian military aircraft.
Putin’s forces have sustained significant losses particularly in occupied Crimea, where Ukrainian assaults has proved to be especially effective.
Dozens of Su, Mi and Ka jets have been struck down in Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Bryansk, Luhansk, Donetsk and Crimea.
Ukraine’s army claims to have destroyed some 369 enemy aircraft since the war began in February 2022.
At least four Su-30 planes were destroyed by Kyiv missiles in a two-day onslaught on the Belbek airbase in Crimea in May this year.
Dramatic video showed the moment one of Putin’s £8.5million Su-25 planes was shot down near Donetsk in July.
And in January more footage captured the moment an Su-34 worth over £30million was destroyed as part of a top-secret Ukrainian operation.
The moment the jet (R) nosedives into the sea
ReutersA Ukrainian kamikaze drone attack reached Moscow this week – pictured: a damaged residential building in Ramenskoye just south of the city[/caption]
Russian pilot Captain Egor Stepanishin
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