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3 months ago
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THIS is the shocking moment a Russian pilot filmed himself just seconds after his warplane was shot out of the sky.
Dramatic footage caught the warplane – thought to be a Russian Sukhoi fighter – plunging through the clouds with flames trailing from its engines after a fatal Ukrainian blow.
A Russian pilot was seen filming himself seconds after ejecting from his warplaneEast2West
He screamed ‘My plane was f***ing shot’ as he plunged down the groundEast2West
The downed Russian jet believed to be one of the Russian Sukhoi fightersEast2West
The clip, shared by Ukrainian official Anton Gerashchenko, shows the pilot capturing the falling plane from above.
He then turns the smartphone camera to show himself as he dangles from his parachute after ejecting from the cockpit of the fighter plane.
The pilot can be seen wearing his advanced helmet and an oxygen mask.
Clutching the phone in one hand, he then screamed: “They f***ing shot us down,” before he removed his face mask.
While it is not clear where the clip was shot, the incident is understood to have taken place last year, when the Ukrainian forces downed three Russian Su-34 bombers in a major humiliation to Putin.
It was reported that at least one Russian crew ejected at the time.
A Russian official said in a statement: “The pilot is alive, well, and ready to take on the Ukrainians.”
It is understood that Russian pilots are not allowed to take mobile phones during air raids – and he had mistakenly taken one with him.
The Su-34 aircraft are used by Russia to carry bombs and X-59 missiles. Russia was thought to have had 155 of these bombers before it launched its invasion of Ukraine.
More than 20 of them had been shot down by Ukraine since the start of the war.
The footage emerges as new F-16s are seen in the skies defending Ukraine for the first time.
A pair of daring aircraft could be seen soaring across the city of Odesa as they went off to fight the Russian enemy on the frontlines in what could be a historic turning point in the Ukraine war.
The deployment of the F-16s is seen as one of the biggest boosts so far in the war for Ukraine.
F-16s are one of the prized Western weapons that Ukraine has been trying to seek for a long time.
The frighteningly fast Fighting Falcon F-16s travel at twice the speed of sound and are the second most advanced generation of jets in the Nato arsenal.
Last year, the US gave the go-ahead for allies to send Ukraine the long-awaited F-16 warplanes to fight Russia in the skies.
The deployment of the powerful F-16s has prompted a Russian war channel to say the “hunt” for them begins now.
How F-16s could help Ukraine
The Fighting Falcons are referred to by experts as a “Lego Kit” due to their versatility and ability to be upgraded and serviced cheaply – ideal in times of war.
So too is their “game-changing” ability to travel at 1,350mph and carry 17,000 lbs worth of missiles and bombs.
The Ukrainian Air Force is currently reliant on ageing Soviet-era jets that have struggled against Moscow’s more modern air force and air defences.
F-16s are highly manoeuvrable fighter jets that Kyiv say will be capable of supporting Ukraine’s ground troops and defending civilians from Russia’s crippling missile attacks, including drones.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba laid out the five essential reasons his country needs the war planes.
Firstly, “Ukraine requires modern jets to strengthen our air and missile defences, save lives, and protect civilians,” he warned, adding that it will allow them to shoot down missiles long before they kill someone.
Secondly, he says: “F-16s will allow us to control our skies, protect our troops, reduce their losses, and increase the chances of our pilots surviving dogfights.”
The next is ensuring the security of the Black Sea corridor so all future grain exports can move freely.
He also believes that the use F-16s in active combat will help to educate the US Air Force on their plane’s capabilities “without putting any American lives in danger.
“Ukrainian aces will turn Top Gun fiction into reality.”
And lastly, he insists that the planes will secure the victory of Ukraine and terrify Putin.
“F-16s in the hands of Ukrainian pilots will serve as a strong deterrent to any future Russian attempts to redraw borders in Europe”.
The Kremlin has reportedly put up a pricey bounty for destroying each individual jet and eliminating a Ukrainian pilot.
Ukraine says they now have 10 of the NATO-supplied planes in their war arsenal.
President Volodymyr Zelensky is said to be hoping for almost eight times as many jets in the coming months as they look to continue to stall Putin’s invasion.
Back in March, Putin sent out a chilling warning to Nato that any F-16 jets supplied by the West would be blown out of the sky.
The dictator vowed attacks on Nato airfields if Ukraine used them to launch the game-changing supersonic fighters against Russia.
During a visit to a military training facility in Torzhok, Putin told airforce pilots that F-16s are “carriers of nuclear weapons” – and Russian forces would completely destroy them just like any other military equipment.
LATEST ON RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
It comes as Ukraine obliterated one of Putin’s prized Black Sea submarines in an impressive attack on occupied Crimea.
Kyiv forces said the prized Kilo-class Rostov-on-Don vessel, worth £275 million, was hit in a missile barrage on the Sevastopol port.
Ukraine’s attack on Friday also “significantly damaged” four of Putin’s ultramodern S-400 air defence systems – worth in total around £2 billion.
Kyiv claimed the missile barrage also targeted four vital launches of Russia’s “Triumf” air defence system.
The Kilo-class Rostov submarine – used to fire calibre-class missiles on Ukraine – had been hit in September last year, but was then repaired.
It was due to go back into service when Ukraine staged the lethal strike on Friday night.
Ukrainian forces used deadly US-made ATACMS missiles for the hit.
The mammoth sub was on sea trials in the water around Sevastopol when it was sunk, according to reports.
Kyiv is known for its impressive targeting of Russian naval targets amid Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine and the sub marks a big milestone for Zelensky’s forces.
Russian forces continue their offensive operation along the frontlines of war and have recently claimed a village north of Bakhmut and another south of Velyka Novosilka.
They also continued to advance northwest of Donetsk city after capturing Vuhledar – a tactically significant region that can obstruct Ukrainian supply routes.
Ukraine’s second-largest city Kharkiv saw intense fighting last month as Putin’s troops looked to push forward into the northeast.
Russian attacks on Kharkiv – liberated after six months of Moscow‘s occupation in September 2022 – have been scaling up dramatically in previous weeks, killing dozens and leaving thousands without electricity.
In May, at least 18 people were killed after a Russian missile strike hit a retail park in the region sparking a horror inferno.
Meanwhile, Ukraine claimed Putin’s Russia reached a grim milestone after losing more than 500,000 soldiers in their failing war.
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s men have also claimed to have destroyed 7,650 Russian tanks and 14,786 armoured combat vehicles since the start of the invasion in 2022.
An additional 10,400 drones have been struck down with the aerial domination of Putin continuing with impressive claims of 326 helicopters and 350 planes all being downed.
Even outside of the battlefield, Ukraine’s great success is clear to see with them reporting 27 ships and boats and one submarine have all been successfully targeted and sunk.
The latest figures also don’t account for the humiliating “tens of thousands” of soldiers who have deserted Putin’s armed forces, it is believed.
East2West
A Russian Su-34 bomber
A pair of the daring F-16s seen soaring across the city of Odesa
Putin has lost tens of thousands of military equipment since the beginning of his war
English (US)