Putin warplane crashes after wing falls off during bombing raid
At first it appeared it had been shot down, with Ukrainian media claiming it had possibly been the victim of 'friendly fire' by an unguided missile from its partner plane. The footage shows heat trap flares and possible missiles from the Su-25s. Yet experts on both sides now believe downing near Soledar had a different cause, related to Vladimir Putin 's use of war planes that are 40 years old - or even more antiquated.
While there are flames and white smoke as it gets into trouble, there is no explosion, which would be expected if there was a direct missile hit. The right wing is seen falling from the stricken aircraft - and the pilot's parachute is visible after ejecting. The pilot was reportedly rescued by Russian ground forces while under fire from Ukrainian drones. An Mi-8 helicopter then arrived at the crash site and evacuated him.
'The pilot is in the hospital with a broken arm,' reported a Russian Telegram channel. 'A commission will investigate what went wrong and determine who is to blame.' The same source says that 'destruction of the wing' was the cause. Officially, Ukraine has not claimed to have shot down the plane, nor taunted Russia over another friendly fire incident.
The visible 'missiles' may be unignited heat trap flares designed to distract heat-seeking missiles away from the aircraft's engines, according to some sources. Ukraine's Military media outlet ruled out both friendly fire and an exploding missile on the distressed aircraft.
'The third possible reason is a defect in the aircraft's power structure that arose due to prolonged intensive use of the aircraft in combat operations or a manufacturing defect,' said the channel. 'This hypothesis is supported by the fact that the wing broke off at the moment of the turn, when it is subjected to the greatest loads.
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