Technology
REPORT: Ukraine shoots down NINE Russian jets as enemy pilots ask for mercy
To date, Ukraine claims to have shot down a total of 44 planes, 48 helicopters, and blown up 285 tanks, 960 armored vehicles and 60 fuel tankers. Ukraine has also asserted they have killed 11,000 Russian troops.
March 7, 2022 8:37am
Updated: March 7, 2022 1:13pm
Multiples videos emerged Saturday of downed Russian pilots pleading with their Ukrainians captors on a day where at least nine Russian aircraft were shot down.
In one video, a captured pilot in an orange jumpsuit on his knees is interrogated by Ukrainians in Mykolaiv.
Another shows two bloodied Russian airmen in the back of a truck. Their captors can be heard yelling, “You are killing our people, you bastard,” reported The Sun.
A pilot responds that he was just “ordered to fly” and believed he was on a rescue mission.
A third clip shows a Russian claiming he was “not told anything” about his mission as he is confronted by men claiming they found maps for bombing runs in the wreckage of his plane.
His angry captors berated him with statements like: “Were you blind?” “you were going to bomb civilians,” and “how many bombing runs did you perform?”
A reported nine Russian aircraft were shot down on the bloody Saturday – five warplanes and four helicopters – with some caught on video.
To date, Ukraine claims to have shot down a total of 44 planes, 48 helicopters, and blown up 285 tanks, 960 armored vehicles and 60 fuel tankers, according to The Sun, a British based newspaper.
Ukraine has also asserted they have killed 11,000 Russian troops, reports the U.K. Independent.
A clip of a Russian MI-24/35 Hind helicopter crashing out of the sky after being hit with a shoulder-launched missile went viral. Investigative journalists at Bellingcat determined the incident took place in Kazarovychi, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from Kyiv.
Another video from Chernihiv, in northern Ukraine, showed two pilots parachuting out of a hit military jet. It was believed to be a Sukhoi Su-34, a fighter-bomber that was also used in Syria.
One pilot died and the lone survivor appeared in a separate video in a bloodstained t-shirt and bandaged head. The Ukrainian soldiers get their captive to say “glory to Ukraine” before asking: “Why are you bombing people?”
The videos demonstrate the impact of the weapons sent by the U.S. and other Western countries to the Ukrainian military in their struggle against the invasion of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, including man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS) and surface-to-air Stinger missiles.
U.S. officials said on Friday that the “vast majority” of a $350 million military aid package approved on Feb. 26 has been delivered.