Russian air defense increasingly shoots down its aircraft in Crimea

Russian occupiers increasingly began to shoot down their own aircraft over the temporarily occupied Crimea. The reason for the increased frequency of “friendly fire” from Russian air defense was the growing tension due to constant attacks by Ukraine on Russian military targets on the peninsula.
Fearing explosions,” the Russian command ordered air defense crew commanders to respond to any threats – despite the fact that the Russian friend-foe recognition system has problems. This was stated in the military movement of Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars ATESH, writes Obozrevatel media outlet.
“Agents of the ATESH movement report that tension is growing among the occupiers in the Crimea due to constant missile attacks and UAV raids that threaten military installations. The top military leadership ordered air defense crew commanders to shoot down threats, despite problems with the “friend or foe” target detection and recognition system. However, faced with constant missile attacks and UAV raids, commanders of air defense crews are forced to carry out target designation virtually in manual mode. Thanks to this, strikes often occur against their own air targets,” the report noted.
Thus, the 12th anti-aircraft missile regiment of the 31st air defense division of the Russian Federation especially distinguished itself in this direction: over the past few weeks it shot down two military aircraft of the Russian occupiers.
Recent Ukrainian strikes have increased pressure on Russian air defense systems and may be leading to Russian forces shooting down their own planes, the UK Ministry of Defence said earlier. İt is noted an incident on March 28 where a Crimean Telegram channel reported that a Russian Sukhoi Su-27 jet had crashed over occupied Crimea after being shot down by its own forces.
The UK Ministry of Defence added that the downing of the Su-27 and other similar events, if confirmed, "likely highlights the lack of situational awareness and coordination" among some Russian forces, while also highlighting the "second-order impact" of Ukrainian strikes.