This is the dramatic moment a Russian Su-25 attack plane was shot out of the sky by a giant fireball after being hit by the USKraian defenders.
The picture shows the missile hitting the left wing and tail of the Russian fighter jet, worth £19.5 million, before bursting into flames.
Russian military sources confirmed that the attack took place near Pokrovsk in the occupied Donetsk region. The area is known as the Pokrovsk Triangle, where several fighter jets have previously been shot down.
The source also claimed that the pilot had ejected safely and “everything is fine with him.” The jet was one of two shot down by a portable anti-aircraft gun.
The outage follows a Russian airstrike that damaged a power plant in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region overnight, knocking out power to 50,400 consumers, Ukrainian officials said.
This is the moment when the portable air defense complex fires a missile at the Su-25 fighter jet
Extraordinary footage shows the missile moving before it hits the fighter jet
The attack plane, worth £19.5 million, was one of two aircraft shot down
A Ukrainian military channel said: “Two Russian pilots were so insane that they actually flew close to our positions. One of them was immediately punished for his audacity.”
“It’s burning, I see the plane burning,” said an excited voice after the strike.
In the attack on Sumy last night, the Ukrainian air force reported on Telegram that its air defense systems destroyed seven of the eight drones launched by Russia.
Russia also sent a Kh-69 guided air missile, the air force said, but added that the missile “did not reach its target” due to countermeasures by its forces.
The energy ministry, which reported the outages, did not specify which weapon damaged the facility. According to the Telegram statement, power has been restored to about 24,500 consumers so far.
According to the region’s military administration, there were no casualties in the attack, Telegram reports.
A view of the moment the plane hits the ground and explodes
A pilot was seen parachuting out of the plane before it exploded, Russian sources confirmed
Russia has resumed long-range attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure this spring, targeting thermal power plants, hydroelectric power plants and gas storage facilities.
According to Ukraine, such strikes have destroyed 9 gigawatts of electricity generation capacity across the country, causing power outages in many regions and affecting GDP growth.
Today, a Ukrainian drone attack also reportedly damaged a ferry and killed one person in the Russian port of Kavkaz in the southern Krasnodar region.
According to the state news agency RIA, citing an emergency services source, the fire at the port caused by the drone attack was later extinguished.
Port Kavkaz is located on a narrow spit of land facing the Crimean Peninsula. Ferries based there help connect the Russian mainland with Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
