Global Courant 2023-05-13 20:41:53
Reuters
Apocalyptic scenes were seen in Russia’s Bryansk region on Saturday when four military jets were blown out of the sky near the border, killing nearly a dozen servicemen.
Officially, authorities blamed the Mi-8 helicopter crash on a mysterious engine fire, but video shared by local residents on social media appeared to show a missile hitting the helicopter just before it exploded.
Around the same time the helicopter crashed, a Su-34 fighter jet also came down and burst into flames from the sky. Residents of the town of Klintsy gathered to stare in horror at the jet’s fiery wreckage in a nearby wooded area.
Separately, Russian media reported that ONE MORE Mi-8 helicopter and a Su-35 jet were shot down in the region.
The Russian newspaper Kommersant reported that all crew members on board all four aircraft were killed. Russian authorities, meanwhile, remained silent about the simultaneous catastrophes, only confirming the crash of a single helicopter.
According to Compellingall four aircraft had been tasked with carrying out strikes against the Chernihiv region of Ukraine, with the helicopters to support the fighters.
But they were apparently shot instead. According to Baza, at least 9 Russian soldiers were killed.
Authorities in the region are now said to be frantically searching for Ukrainian “saboteurs” who shot down the plane, though some questioned whether Russia actually shot down its own planes in its paranoia over Ukraine in order to obtain new long-range cruise missiles.
Pro-war Russian military bloggers are now demanding revenge for what they described as an “ambush” on the Russian air force by Ukrainian forces.
“Our aviation has not suffered such losses as today since March last year,” complained a pro-Kremlin Telegram channel.
“We will avenge everyone, we will kill everyone,” said another pro-war broadcaster.
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