Due to various types of considerations in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine War, many military information will not be released in real time. For example, the military assistance provided by the West to Ukraine will only be completely recognized after it has appeared on the battlefield and has been discovered. Many countries have not even recognized the assistance provided to Ukraine so far in the form of military aid. Similarly, the Ukrainian military has also delayed a lot of information from the world.
Recently, the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs said that pensioner Valery Fedorovich was given “assistance in protection” for shooting down a Russian Su-34 fighter-bomber that was bombing Chernihiv in March this year. Surprisingly, this old Ukrainian retired man did not shoot down the Su-34 with a man-portable anti-aircraft missile system, nor did he operate other air defense systems, but shot it down with a rifle!
The wreckage of the Su-34 was found in Chernihiv, I don’t know if it was the one shot down by the old man.
The old Ukrainian man shot down the Russian Su-34 fighter-bomber with a rifle. It sounds incredible and unbelievable. After all, as a replacement for the Su-24 fighter-bomber, the Su-34 “Hell duck” was developed on the basis of the Su-27. One of the main features of this aircraft is its strong battlefield survivability system. It has titanium alloy armor that can resist 23mm armor-piercing bullets in key positions such as the cockpit.
How could it be shot down by a rifle? We can’t confirm the news, but we can’t deny it either. After all, a large numbers of Su-34s has been shot down in this war, and there are many examples of shooting down enemy fighter planes with rifles in other conflicts.
In another news, ukrainian military journalist Andrei Chaplynko also reported that a Russian Su-30SM fighter jet shot down in March was found in the Kharkiv region. After seeing the aircraft number RF81771, it was found that the Su-30SM fighter was off the assembly line in 2018 and belonged to the 14th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment. The regiment was transferred to the vicinity of Kursk before the start of the “special military operation”.
Its deputy commander officer Shershi Kosik was shot down in March and remains imprisoned in Ukraine and has not returned to Russia through a prisoner exchange. As for the two pilots of the Su-30SM fighter, only one of them is known to have parachuted. It is unclear whether they were rescued by the Russian helicopters, or were killed by the Ukrainian Army or captured as POW.
After going through various pictures and videos, almost all kinds of russian tactical aircrafts participating in this “special military operation” have been shot down after they enter Ukrainian airspace. Russia claims to have destroyed the Ukrainian air defense network in the first place, without even destroying the weak Ukrainian air force. In the early days of the “special military operation”, the Russian Aerospace Forces and the Black Sea Fleet naval aviation paid the price for not performing well in the battle. Under the threat of the Ukrainian air defense network, the Russian fighter jets entering Ukraine’s airspace were not only compressed at low and ultra-low altitudes, but also repeatedly shot down by man-portable anti-aircraft missiles, a large number of elite Russian pilots were killed and captured.
The reason for this situation is not only the targeted tactical adjustment of the Ukrainian air defense force and the Ukrainian Air Force, and the intelligence support of NATO and USA, but also the problems of the Russian Aerospace Forces themselves. In a sense, it is not an exaggeration for the Russian Aerospace Force to be called the “Flying Cigan Circus”. Although it seems to be advanced in the number of equipments and has achieved a lot of achievements in Syria, it is not yet suitable for modern warfare. In addition to the lack of hardware such as precision-guided weapons, there are also problems with the Russian Air Force internal command, organization and other systems.