Downed Rusian A-50, Il-22 over Sea of Azov are result of Ukrainian Air Force's work

He expressed this opinion on the Espreso TV channel.

"Today is a very significant day for us. This day has already been written down in history because for the first time in history, a long-range radar detection aircraft was shot down. And no matter how much the enemy would like to hide this loss by admitting that it was the Ukrainian Defence Forces that destroyed such an aircraft, they failed. Their statements are panicky, because claiming to have shot down an aircraft by their own air defence forces is more like idiocy. There is no way they could have confused the targets. After all, our aircraft do not fly that far and could not have been seen as targets over the Sea of Azov. So it's just desperation, because they can't admit that Ukraine was able to shoot down their super-expensive aircraft," Katkov explained.

The expert noted that a special operation was planned to destroy the Russian aircraft.

"It should also be noted that the General Staff has already officially confirmed that it was Ukrainian Air Force aircraft that were involved in the downing of the A-50 and Il-22. Most likely, it could have been a specially planned operation using Russian enemy's template actions. In particular, when these aircraft had been flying along known routes for quite some time, hoping that there were no forces and means to destroy them. Now we can state that the restricted area for Russian aircraft has expanded," he added.

• On January 15, Yuriy Mysiahin, deputy head of the Ukrainian parliamentary committee on national security, defence and intelligence, and sources in the Defence Forces announced that two Russian aircraft had been shot down over the Sea of Azov.
• On January 15, Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi and the Air Force confirmed the downing of Russian A-50 and Il-22 aircraft.