Russian Su-34M fighter bomber was shot down by… the Russians

 The air defense of the armed forces of Russia, or of Lugansk, shot down a fighter on July 17th, which turned out to be a Su-34M and from the inventory of the Russian Air Force. That’s according to Rob Lee, a former US Marine and current senior fellow at the Philadelphia-based Foreign Policy Research Institute.

On July 17th, a plane was shot down over Alchevsk, Ukraine. Russian military correspondent Yevgeny Poddubny reports on his Telegram channel that Russian air defense systems shot down “the target in the sky,” but does not say what plane was shot down, as it is unclear. Later, however, the remains of the downed air target were found, and from the photos and videos that were taken, it is clear that it is a Su-34M fighter-bomber with registration number RF-95890. The only operator in the world of this aircraft in Russia.

The Russian Telegram channel Fighterbomber also confirms the fact that Russian air defense systems have shot down their fighter, and questions how effective the “friend-foe” identification system developed by Russian military engineers is, which system is supposed to recognize which aircraft is a friend and which is enemy. The author of Fighterbomber says that an air defense system is determined to be good if it shoots down foreign planes more often than its own.

“For any air defense, I can only say that air defense is considered good if it shoots down strangers more often than its own and that any pilot needs to be afraid of his own air defense just like a stranger. It is not very clear how the “friend or foe” state identification system is doing there, which, as it were, is on every flyable and air defense system, including MANPADS, and how many of our own should be shot down, and not strangers, so that this system works as it should for the fifth month of combat actions,” writes Fighterbomber.

Interesting fact: several advanced Su-34M fighter-bombers were delivered just a week before the downing the one of them over Alchevsk, Ukraine.

Su-34 Fullback

The Sukhoi Su-34, as an export version under the designation Su-32, is a two-seater fighter-bomber developed in the Soviet Union by the Sukhoi design office, whose series production started in April 2006. Official delivery to the Russian Air Force began on July 31, 2007.

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

On 21 February 2022, the Russian government claimed that Ukrainian shelling had destroyed an FSB border facility on the Russia Ukraine border, and claimed that it had killed 5 Ukrainian soldiers who tried to cross into Russian territory. Ukraine denied being involved in both incidents and called them a false flag.

On the same day, the Russian government formally recognized the self-proclaimed DPR and LPR as independent states, according to Putin not only in their de-facto controlled areas, but the Ukrainian Oblasts as a whole, and Putin ordered Russian troops, including tanks, to enter the regions.

On 24 February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine by Russian Armed Forces previously concentrated along the border. The invasion followed by targeted airstrikes of military buildings in the country, as well as tanks entering via the Belarus border.

Russia has so far not recognized the invasion of Ukraine as a “war”, although that is exactly what it is, claiming that it is a “special military operation”. According to the UN, in which Russia has its permanent representation, for military action to be defined as a “special military operation”, it must have a resolution issued by the UN. There is no such resolution, which automatically defines the military actions of the Russians as an invasion and war against the citizens of Ukraine.