Shot Down

A video of a Russian Sukhoi Su-34 fighter-bomber aircraft spiraling out of control in a flat spin, apparently over Ukraine, made its rounds on social media yesterday. The video has been viewed more than 430,000 times since it was posted on Twitter on Monday.

Video courtesy of Twitter and @Guardian_Mario.

In the brief 12-second clip, the camera zooms in on the Su-34 as it appears to be in a flat spin and falling quickly out of the Ukrainian sky. The ominous Hanz Zimmer tune, No Time for Caution, plays in the background.

A person with the Twitter handle @visegrad24 posted a photo of a large column of black smoke rising far into the sky after the aircraft impacted the ground.

They posted the following text along with the image:

“The Ukrainian Army has shot down a Russian Su-34 over Kharkiv this morning. Good job Ukraine!”

The jet was reportedly downed near the town of Balakliia, 46 miles southeast of Kharkiv. Balakliia is currently under Russian control. Air Command East, a branch of the Ukrainian Air Force, is believed to have shot down the jet.

Only 129 of these fighter-bombers have been built since they first flew in 1990, after being designed and built for use in the Soviet Air Force. The cost of the aircraft, referred to by NATO as “Fullback,” is 40-50 million dollars. At least three have been downed thus far in the Russian-Ukrainian war. Before their use in Ukraine, they flew combat missions in Syria.

The video of the downing appeared shortly after Russia sent a formal communication to the US to stop helping the Ukrainians in their war effort.

Russians Demand End To US Aid

Anatoly Antonov, the Russian ambassador to the US, has sharply criticized Washingon’s latest nearly $1 billion aid package to their enemy.

In an interview on Russian state-owned TV, he said that sending weapons to Kyiv “does not contribute to the search for a diplomatic solution and settlement of the situation. This is a huge figure[failure?].”

Antonov said the Kremlin, in a formal note, stressed the “unacceptability” of the U.S. supplying Ukraine with weaponry. “We demanded an end to this practice,” he said.

The diplomat went on to accuse the US of “trying to raise the stakes even more and aggravate the situation.”

The propaganda coming out of the Kremlin these days states that Russia is in a “proxy war” with NATO and the United States(which is actually true) while failing to acknowledge that it is a war Russia itself started with its 3-day “Special Military Operation” now in its 64th day.