Russian warplane is shot down by one of Putin’s surface to air missiles

• Russia has suffered a series of friendly fire incidents during its war in Ukraine

A Russian Su-25 was shot down by its own side in a new friendly fire incident, according to reports.

It is suspected to have been downed by a Russian Buk-M3 surface to air missile system.

Initial euphoric Russian reports said a Ukrainian attack Su-25 had been hit.

But Ukraine’s air force commander General Mykola Oleshchuk insisted it was a Russian plane that was downed – by its own side.

‘I can confidently say that it was not Ukrainian air defence that shot down the Russian Su-25 attack aircraft,’ he said.

‘These were clear and coordinated actions of Russian anti-aircraft gunners, for which many thanks from the entire Ukrainian people.’

Recent pictures have shown a Russian Su-25 pilot cheating death as the aircraft flies over a shooting BM-21 Grad MLRS

It is suspected to have been downed by a Russian Buk-M3 surface to air missile system (pictured in a file image)

Russian reports later claimed that the plane had crashed flying low in poor visibility.

The incident was near Yelyzavetivka, in Mykolaiv region, according to some reports.

The friendly fire claim follows another extraordinary recent incident when footage caught a Russian Su-25 fighter almost downed by sustained fire from a Grad multiple rocket launcher.

Miraculously, the plane was not hit in the dramatic sequence.

In the most recent known case, Major-General Vladimir Zavadsky, 45, of Russia’s 14th Army Corps, was killed by one of his own landmines after being shot at with friendly mortar fire when he drove a military vehicle captured from the Ukrainians.

Crews of Russian Su-25 warplanes, one of whom was ‘downed by friendly fire’, according to reports (file image)

In a separate incident, a Russian Su-34 bomber was damaged in a kamikaze drone strike on a military airfield in Rostov region, which borders Ukraine.

Video showed the drone attack on Morozovsk.

Russian and Ukrainian Telegram channels showed pictures of the shrapnel-damaged warplane belonging to Vladimir Putin’s 559th Guards Bomber Guards Regiment.

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