In the course of an unsuccessful attempt by militants from the terrorist organization the Wagner Group, led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, to “go to Moscow”, an Il-22 aircraft was destroyed in the Russian Federation, and this was the first case of the liquidation of such aircraft. About it in an interview NV said the speaker of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Yuriy Ignat.
In addition to IL-22, “Wagner” destroyed two combat helicopters (one Mi type and one Ka-52), one Mi-8 military transport helicopter and one Mi-8 electronic warfare helicopter, which performs the function of creating obstacles. The latter, according to him, is very valuable for the Russian army, and Russia has “not many” such helicopters.
As for the Il-22, Ignat noted that this aircraft had already been hit by Ukrainian anti-aircraft missiles, but then the Armed Forces of Ukraine only damaged him – he was “slightly torn to pieces”, but returned to the base of the Russian Federation, where, probably, he was restored.
The speaker of the Air Force noted that the Il-22 works together with the A-50 aircraft, such tried to undermine partisans in Belarus using a drone.
“They always fly in the south of Ukraine in the Azov and Black Seas, they track our assets that are in Ukraine with radar,” Ignat said.
IL-22 is a repeater – it relays the signal and reports on the air situation. It is also called the air control room.
See also: There was a video from the crash site of the Russian Il-22 shot down by Wagnerites
“This is also an important technique that is in service with the Russian army. I think they [у России] there are also up to 10 units – like the A-50. But defeating him for the first time is also good news for us <...> Plus, the pilots are the most valuable achievement (10 crew members died in the IL-22 alone. – Ed.). Pilots cannot be trained so easily, it takes years to bring up a real pilot who can perform combat missions,” Ignat said.
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