Russia has said that one of its Su-30cm fighter jets took out a Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle in the skies above the battlefields of Ukraine.
The video begins by showing a Russian pilot inspecting his aircraft before climbing into the cockpit along with his co-pilot.
The aircraft then prepares for takeoff and taxis onto a runway before taking to the skies.
The video then shows the aircraft flying high above the clouds, with a red star and a hammer and sickle reminiscent of Soviet times clearly visible on the back of the pilot’s helmet.
The images then show the aircraft opening fire as the footage ends.
The video was obtained from the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Wednesday, 8th May, along with a statement claiming: “A Su-30cm fighter of the Russian Aerospace Forces destroyed an enemy UAV [unnamed aerial vehicle] in the area of responsibility of the Vostok group of forces.”
The Russian MoD added: “The crew of the Su-30cm multirole fighter of the Aerospace Forces of the Russian Federation during a flight mission destroyed an enemy UAV in the area of responsibility of the Vostok group of forces.”
The statement quotes Su-30cm pilot Dmitry as saying: “At the command “air” we took off and entered the target area. A command was received from the control centre to aim at the target. We hit the target and carried out an anti-missile manoeuvre. We returned home safely.”
The statement continued: “Also, during the combat mission, the crews of Su-30cm multirole fighters practised patrolling in a given area and covering the actions of bomber and attack aircraft, as well as army aviation helicopters when carrying out air strikes on military targets and equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”
We have not been able to independently verify the claims or the footage.
