The Russian air force has lost a Su-25 CAS aircraft in a friendly fire incident over Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast, Russian Telegram channel Fighterbomber reported on June 13.
“The cause of the Su-25 crash has been established,” the message said.
“The pilot is in the hospital with a broken arm. A commission will investigate what went wrong and determine who is to blame.”
The incident was also confirmed by Ukrainian OSINT (open-source intelligence) analyst AviVector. According to him, a pair of Su-25 attack aircraft departed from the Taganrog-Central airfield for a sortie near Vuhledar. During the mission, one of the planes crashed.
The Russian pilot ejected. An Mi-8 helicopter later arrived at the crash site and evacuated him.
Another analyst, OSINTtechnical, reported that the Su-25 seems to have been downed by an unguided rocket fired by a nearby wingman.
On June 7, Moscow said that Ukrainian forces shot down a Russian Su-35 fighter jet. German newspaper Bild later reported that an F-16 fighter was used to engage and shoot down the Su-35 over Kursk Oblast.
