War in Ukraine: the conflict that has taken countless lives and does not seem like it will ever end.
Who will win the fight?
We turn now to social media for some clear signs of who might win:
VIDEO: Russian Su-25 Shot Down In Ukraine – Cell phone footage emerged on social media back on March 1, apparently showing the remains of a Russian Su-25 aircraft.
The video clip shows a Ukrainian soldier in full gear walking through a wooded area.
Large branches and trees are seen bent and snapped on the ground, indicating that the aircraft fell from the air.
Warped pieces of metal, including the wings of the plane, can also be seen scattered over the ground.
Also known as the “Frogfoot,” the Su-25 is a Soviet-era jet attack aircraft that first entered production in 1978.
What is the Su-25?
The plane is designed to be fast, light, and capable of destroying ground-based targets like tanks and other armored vehicles.
The agile yet powerful nature of the aircraft gained it the moniker “flying tank.”
As military analyst Dr. Robert Farley noted in a recent 19FortyFive piece on the Su-25:
“There’s no question that the Frogfoot can be used to devastating effect, under certain conditions. This is why both the Russians and Ukrainians have used them extensively during this conflict.
But throughout its history the Frogfoot has suffered losses considerably higher than its faster, higher flying cousins.
During the Soviet war in Afghanistan, numerous Frogfoots conducting low-altitude attack runs were lost to shoulder-launched SAMs.
Russia lost several Frogfoots in its invasion of Georgia in 2008.
In 2014, Ukraine lost a number of Frogfoots to the air defense systems that Russia supplied to separatists in the Donbas region (systems that were sometimes operated by Russians themselves).”
More Details
The video of the downed aircraft was first uploaded to a Ukrainian Telegram account and was later reuploaded by Ukraine Weapons Tracker.
Little information about the crash is available, but the original poster on Telegram claimed that the pilot ejected the plane and was recovered alive.
“A Russian Su-25 close air support jet was shot down by the Ukrainian army.”
According to the source of the video, the pilot ejected and then was successfully evacuated,” Ukraine Weapons Tracker writes in a Twitter post.
No information about the location of the crash, or when it may have happened, was shared by the original poster.
However. Given that there is no snow on the ground, and that the trees have shed their leaves, the video may have been recorded in the autumn of 2022.
Depending on the location, however, the video may also be much more recent.
Ukraine Shoots Down Jet On Sunday
A post from the Ukrainian 110th Mechanized Brigade, another Russian Su-25 jet was shot down also towards the end of February.
According to the post, the plane was shot down in the Avdiivka region and its pilot was captured alive. The Ukrainian military said that the plane was shot down in “revenge” after Russian airstrikes hit an important industrial facility in the region.
The plane was taken down by a Ukrainian man-portable air defense system (MANPAD), and the strike follows days of dramatically heightened conflict.
StarStreak MANPAD headed to Ukraine. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Grom anti-air MANPADS missile system from Poland.
At the time, according to the Institute for the Study of War, Russian bombardment resulted in the destruction of a town close to Avdiivka, including a school that had only recently been built.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reportedly praised the brigade for the successful strike in a nightly address to the nation at the time months back.
#Ukraine: A Russian Su-25 close air support jet was shot down by the Ukrainian army. According to the source of the video, the pilot ejected and then was successfully evacuated.
The location and date is currently unknown. pic.twitter.com/ZbXopBUeD9
— ???????? Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) March 1, 2023
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Jack Buckby is 19FortyFive’s Breaking News Editor. He is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
