It is likely that after this Russia landed its A-50 reconnaissance aircraft, which were sent to support operations in Ukraine shoot down two such planesThis was reported by the Ministry of Defense of Great Britain in a report dated March 2. At the same time, Russia may try to return to service the old A-50 aircraft to compensate for the losses, it is reported Independent Kyiv and “Ukrainian Pravda”.

British intelligence agencies say the grounding of the A-50 will continue pending the completion of an internal investigation into the failure to protect another critical site and how to reduce the current threat posed by Ukrainian air defenses.

The Russian Air Force recently lost two of its A-50s, one in January and the other on February 23, to Ukrainian attacks. Such a plane costs about 330 million dollars.

The A-50 aircraft performs several critical functions for the ongoing war in Ukraine, such as the detection of air defense systems, guided missiles and target coordination for Russian fighter jets.

On February 27, Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ignat said that since February 23, Ukrainian forces had not detected the A-50 aircraft for several days.

“This is a capacity deficit that Russia cannot afford regarding the disputed airspace in the east and south of Ukraine,” the agency believes.

The loss of A-50 support would likely worsen aircrew awareness and force Russian warplanes to take greater risks to support ground forces, the analysis said.

Russia has recently suffered a series of air force losses, including 10 Su-34 fighter jets and two Su-35 fighter jets in the last two weeks of February. Another Su-34 was shot down on March 1.

According to the UK Ministry of Defence, Russia may try to return to service older A-50s to compensate for the losses, as only a few of the aircraft are likely to be in service now.

The head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, said that the Russian A-50 fleet currently has only six combat aircraft.