Commander of Russian Il-22M aircraft previously hit over Sea of Azov reportedly killed in that attack

Viktor Klimov, the commanding officer of a Russian Il-22M airborne command post hit by Ukrainian forces on 14 January, was killed in that attack.

Source: Krymsky Veter (Crimean Wind), a local Telegram-based news outlet

Details: Russian social media communities reported that Klimov had been killed in the attack.

The co-pilot, also wounded, managed to land the aircraft.

Background:

• Reports of the downing of a Russian A-50 reconnaissance aircraft and damage to an Il-22M appeared on Russian and Ukrainian Telegram channels on the evening of 14 January. They were partially confirmed on 15 January by Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk, Commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, and Ukrainska Pravda’s sources in the Ukrainian government.
• On the morning of 15 January, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, confirmed that the Ukrainian Air Force had downed two important Russian planes: an airborne early warning system (AWACS) aircraft and an airborne command post.
• The Ukrainian Air Force reported that the Russian Il-22 air control centre survived the attack but is beyond repair.

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