Ukraine’s Navy spokesman confirms Russian fighter jet downed in friendly fire incident in Crimea

Dmytro Pletenchuk, the spokesman for the Ukrainian Naval Forces, confirmed earlier reports that the Russian aid defense system shot down their own fighter jet, a Su-27, over the Sevastopol bay on March 28.

He stated this on the air of the national telethon, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"We confirm that this plane belonged to the Russian Federation and that it was destroyed by their own forces. They were on high alert, in combat readiness. The human factor came into play - someone really wanted to get a medal and failed to figure out whose plane it was," Pletenchuk emphasized.

He also noted thatm despite the recent destruction of the military communication hub in Sevastopol, it is too early to say that the enemy has no tools to conduct reconnaissance.

"They use various types of aircraft, starting from the Soviet-era Su-27, such as the one that fell yesterday, shot down by their own forces, ending with the Iranian-made Mohajer-6 (drones). Therefore, I am not ready to claim they do not have the tools to conduct reconnaissance," the spokesman said.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, citing a number of Telegram channels, the Russian military shot down their own warplane shortly after its takeoff from the Belbek airfield near Sevastopol in what appeared to be a friendly fire incident.