Ukraine on Monday (Jan 15) claimed that it had downed one Russian military jet over the Azov Sea and seriously damaged a bomber – an incident that may cause serious escalation in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. 

A report by the news agency AFP mentioned that earlier, Kyiv said it had downed both an A-50 Russian reconnaissance plane and an Il-22 bomber, but later said the latter made it back to base seriously damaged. 

Valery Zaluzhny, who is Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, said both planes were “destroyed”, adding: “I am grateful to the air force for the excellently planned and conducted operation in Azov region!” 

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Later, Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ignat said the Ilyushin bomber made it back to the southern Russian city of Anapa. 

However, he claimed that Russia’s A-50 which is equivalent to the AWACS (Airborne warning and control system) plane, used by NATO, was damaged beyond repair. 

The A-50, which entered service near the end of the Soviet era, is a large Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft capable of scanning an area several hundred kilometers wide. 

“The plane caught fire, there are wounded among the crew,” he said, in a statement that hasn’t been verified. 

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So far, Russia has not commented on the Ukrainian claims. 

Notably, the Azov Sea lies between Russia and Ukraine and Moscow controls its entire coast after seizing large swathes of southeastern Ukraine during its invasion and the 2014 annexation of Crimea.