Posted on 06/06/2014 9:29:09 AM PDT by tcrlaf
A Ukrainian Antonov An-30 reconnaissance aircraft has been shot down by militia and presumably fallen a few kilometers to the east of the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk in the Donetsk Region, a militia spokesman said Friday.
“A Ukrainian reconnaissance plane made circles all day. Militiamen shot it causing an engine to catch fire. After that, it turned back and flew beyond the city’s boundaries,” the militia spokesman said, adding that there is no place for landing in the radius of several kilometers.
“A pillar of black smoke is rising above the presumed place where the plane fell,” he added.
Fierce fighting has been underway between the Ukrainian military and militias in Ukraine’s southeastern regions, which refused to recognize the new Ukrainian authorities propelled to power amid riots during a coup in Ukraine in February.
According to Twitter, this happened at 17:04 local time, after the plane had been loitering for a couple of hours. The AN-30 Recon carries a crew of 5-7. Two parachutes
Rebels have claimed 1-2 fighters, 3 more helicopters, and now the AN-30 around Sloviansk in the last 5 days.
Video 1- Hit is at :31 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USkIDjRhfmI
Video 2 - RT vid from another angle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RnDhZDQwYI&feature=youtu.be
Per Twitter, Ukraine has 3 of these. No idea how many of them are serviceable.
Why would a reconnaissance plane be flying low enough to be susceptible to ground fire?
From what I gather from facebook and Twitter, the aircraft was loitering around Slovyansk for a couple of hours, without being fired on.
My uneducated guess is the got over-confident, dropped lower to see something better, and paid for it. There was fighting on the ground in the same area going on.
From the vids and pics, it looks like this was only at four or five thousand feet when it was hit.
We know one ain’t.....................
MORE:
Kiev has been using the AN-30 downed today to pinpoint militia positions, and to coordinate airstrikes against them. Apparently, it was also over Donetsk the day of the Airport attack.
This could be a SERIOUS setback to the Kiev forces, per several tweets, this is likely the only one they have, as they cannibalized the second one, to keep this one flying.
Reports from Slovyansk in the last couple of hours say Kiev artillery is “firing blindly”.
Update:
Kiev says 6 dead, 2 wounded in Slovyansk “Transport Crash”.
Funny, I didn’t know that transports carrying “Humanitarian supplies lingered over the battle zone for over two hours, while directing tank and artillery fire.
These EuroMaidanPR people are a real hoot.
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