With this post by the Russian "fighterbomber" telegram channel, it's looking more likely that the A-50 shoot down happened. It was a little late coming so I was skeptical at first but now I believe. They are pretty reliable even if they may sometimes fault Russian friendly fire rather than Ukrainian missiles for aircraft shoot downs.
https://x.com/COUPSURE/status/1746776168613744907?s=20
Really big deal as Goose has mentioned. Russia simply does not have many of these planes, every one Ukraine can destroy (and this is the first they have shot down, though Belarusian partisans damaged one on the ground with drones a while back) means a lot. They are likely already cannibalizing planes to keep the few they have operational.
https://x.com/COUPSURE/status/1746776168613744907?s=20
Really big deal as Goose has mentioned. Russia simply does not have many of these planes, every one Ukraine can destroy (and this is the first they have shot down, though Belarusian partisans damaged one on the ground with drones a while back) means a lot. They are likely already cannibalizing planes to keep the few they have operational.
Quote:A Russian channel suggests this is an A-50U (RF-50610), which was upgraded in 2019. Russia had 8 upgraded A-50U aircraft as of September and has been averaging upgrading one A-50 to the A-50U standard every two years.https://x.com/RALee85/status/1746787440013050359?s=20