A court in Moscow has arrested the Ukrainian Armed Forces colonel in absentia on charges of "terrorist act resulting in the death of a person".
According to the investigation, on February 23, 2024, an aircraft of the Russian Air and Space Forces patrolled Russian airspace. Mykola Dzyaman ordered its destruction, "realizing that the said aircraft was not intended for combat operations," the Investigative Committee said. These actions led to the death of 10 crew members and the destruction of the aircraft.
Dzyaman has been charged in absentia with committing a terrorist act resulting in death. He is on a federal wanted list.
On February 23 this year, the Air Force of the AFU reported the destruction of a Russian A-50U long-range radar detection aircraft. The Russian Defense Ministry did not comment on this information at the time.
Then, a number of Z-channels complained that the plane was mistakenly shot down by its own air defense, but the Ukrainian side claimed a joint operation of the Air Force of the AFU and The Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine. And some propagandists said that no one had shot down the A-50.
After being shot down, the A-50U plane went down near the farm Trudovaya Armenia in the Kanevsky district of Krasnodar Krai.
The A-50U is a modernized version of the A-50 reconnaissance aircraft. Its cost, according to the Russian media, is more than 300 million dollars. The equipment on such airplanes can simultaneously track several dozen targets in the sky and on the ground. This is the second reconnaissance plane that the AFU has shot down. The first one was shot down in mid-January over the Sea of Azov.
