The video of the burning and falling Russian was shared on social media on 28 March 2024.
The next day, during a live broadcast on Ukrainian TV, the spokesman for the Ukrainian Navy, Dmytro Pletenchuk, confirmed “that this aircraft belonged to the Russian Federation and that their own forces destroyed it.”
“They had an alarm and were on combat alert. The human factor came into play – one of the operators wanted to get a medal and did not bother to figure out whose plane it was,” he said.
According to Pletenchuk, the Russian forces managed to rescue the pilot of the downed aircraft.
Russian air defenses show down their own Su-27 jet near occupied Sevastopol in Crimea. The pilot rejected, while the plane crashed into the Black Sea.
— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) March 28, 2024
???? Telegram/chp_sevastopol pic.twitter.com/TJJhJbmEZl
The incident occurred amidst heightened tensions in the region, where Russia has been firing dozens of rockets from occupied Crimea against Ukraine in recent days. Ukraine, in response, conducted several missile attacks against the Russian fleet, damaging at least two vessels.