Up to 300 Russian Paratroopers KIA as TWO transport aircraft shot down in Ukraine

[WarGamer]

Yes, it's Daily Mail but apparently based on Ukraine Gov't reporting.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10553451/They-storm-tonight-Zelensky-says-Putins-forces-launch-scale-assault-Kyiv.html

Ukraine's government said earlier on Friday night that they had shot down two Russian military transport planes carrying paratroopers on the outskirts of Kyiv.

The first IL-76 came down near Vasylkiv, 20 miles south of Kyiv, the Ukrainian military said.

The second IL-76 was shot down near Bila Tserkva, 50 miles south of the capital, Nexta reported.

[Tetrachloride]

1. I bet a lot of pilots will refuse.

[WarGamer]

3. It's war... the worst on the continent in 77 years

[Irish_Dem]

5. Military pilots don't refuse direct orders. Especially in Russia.

But now they know they know their lives are in grave danger.

[WarGamer]

6. Shot down by Russian S300 AA systems...

A bit of irony...

[Irish_Dem]

7. Oh the irony. Yes.

[roamer65]

9. Good.

To quote the Ukraine ambassador to the UN.

“There is no purgatory for war criminals, they go straight to hell.”

[Nevilledog]

30. Today he asked for a moment of prayer....

And that the Russian Ambassador should pray for salvation.

[roamer65]

31. Damn straight.

[uppityperson]

2. It's all so sad

[WarGamer]

4. It is.

War can be interesting in a textbook and fun to analyze... but the actual thing in action is horrible.

[mitch96]

11. What a waste of people.. They had familys, friends and now what.. Some asshole wants things

the way "it use to be"....
m

[Dan]

8. Those planes would have to be really big

To transport 150 troops per plane with full combat load.

I think that they might have shot down two planes, but suspect that the total number of paratroopers was half that number.

[relayerbob]

10. It's a very large aircraft

https://www.defenseworld.net/news/28298/All_new_Russian_Il_76MD_90A_Military_Transport_Aircraft_Completes_Final_Assembly#:~:text=The%20Il%2D76MD%2D90A%20can,equipment%20of%20the%20airborne%20troops.

[Dan]

14. Learn something everyday....thanks for sharing.

[relayerbob]

19. Sure thing

Somewhere around/between C-141 to C-5 in total capacity. Very big deal to have downed two of them. Beyond the loss of troops and equipment, i'ts humiliating to the generals and Putin, as it demonstrates to the world that Ukraine's air defense is still active and very capable.

[targetpractice]

16. That's huge... And, 2 for 2...

Relying on those seems like a strategy is that is no longer viable. Putin is getting schooled.

Upon edit: This is senseless and sad. Needless loss of so many souls.

[relayerbob]

20. Yes, it's a great loss

Those soldiers did not expect to be dragged into offensive war.

[James48]

12. Dan-

The IL-76 carries 145 paratroopers and seven air crew, for a fully loaded capacity of 153 souls on-board. Its a four-engine transport jet. Yes, it can easily carry 150+ people with all their paratroop equipment.

[Dan]

17. That is a big ass plane.

Thanks for the information….that’s a lot of load.

[CentralMass]

22. It looks like the can carry 60 passengers. They can handle a payload of over 132k lbs

https://antarctic-logistics.com/2016/04/13/10-things-to-know-about-the-ilyushin-76td/#:~:text=3)%20The%20IL%2D76%20can,capacity%20comes%20to%2017%2C500%20kg.

[Oneironaut]

13. Wow...

This conflict is so bloody. It’s so senseless…

[oasis]

15. Russians will be calling for Putin's head after more reports like this. nt

[UTUSN]

18. *CALL*!

[relayerbob]

23. Yep, I've already been posting about this

His days are numbered, and the longer this goes on, the more pressure will grow on the generals and oligarchs to replace him.

[oasis]

25. With the added pressure of sanctions brought to bear on Russians. nt

[relayerbob]

26. Oh, yeah major economic impact to those Russian billionaries and mafioso

Stock market down over 40% yesterday, ruble at record lows. Putin's Folly will impoverish a not very wealthy country.

[Takket]

21. Why would Russia be flying planes full of paratroopers?

Shouldn’t they crush the anti aircraft batteries with ground forces first? Or sea based cruise missles? Or stealth fighters? Do they even have that tech? I honestly don’t know.

It just seems like paratrooping is a mid-1900s fighting style that you can’t rely on with modern tech.

[relayerbob]

24. The air defenses were what they were launching missiles at, the first night

Just goes to show how inept they are. Either their targeting wasn't all that greatr, or Ukraine deceived them as to their locations. The US today put out a statement saying that while degraded, the Ukrainian air defense and air force are still largely intact.

And yes, even today, maybe espcially today, airborne troops can be incredibly effective.

[LT Barclay]

32. I don't know about current capabilities but back in the '80's I

used to peruse “Jane’s Fighting Ships”.
At that time despite all the bluster about the “Soviet threat” their best ship-to-ship missile only had a range of 20 miles and the folks at Jane’s rated accuracy and reliability as poor. We could have probably done well against them with our WW2 navy. Because they also had only one conventional carrier with limited operational range. There navy was considered a long range navy where we have the world’s only power projection navy. A classmate at the time who had just left the USAF said in class their threat was intentionally overblown to keep up military funding.
So it wouldn’t surprise me if they didn’t have the ability to take out air defense systems.

[uponit7771]

33. This is crazy, US takes out air defense FIRST Russia left this on the table describes the eneptness

[TheBlackAdder]

35. Lithuania sent them Stinger missiles last week and Netherlands and US doing it this week.

.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-receives-anti-aircraft-missiles-lithuania-2022-02-13/

.

[Dial H For Hero]

27. The Russians have the largest paratrooper force in the world.

Roughly 60,000 troops. Mind you, they only have a bit over 100 of the large transports necessary to deploy them.

[blue-wave]

28. Ukraine! Standing Tall!!

I would not want to be a Russian soldier in Ukraine at this moment.

Burn in hell Pooty!!

[ColinC]

29. Hot damn. So there WERE troopers in them!

[DFW]

34. Five minutes ago I got a report from a Ukrainian here who spoke to the people on the ground there

In both instances, the Ukrainians got wind of what was coming. Both airfields were manned with Russian protection troops to make sure the troop transports landed safely. The Ukrainians listened in on the Russian air-ground communications in each case. As soon as the planes were on initial approach, the Ukrainians attacked and wiped out the ground forces, and then downed the planes before they could land in each case. Each plane was carrying about 200 Spetznaz (Special Elite Unit) troops. The Russian media won't mention it, and Youtube has already refused to carry the images. I saw some of them, and they are pretty gruesome. This is not some internet war game.

After seeing some short filming, what is really scary is how people seem to adapt so quickly to going about their normal preparations while stepping over the bodies of Russian invaders, left where they fell because there was more urgent work to do. Please don't ask me to pass them on. I didn't want them sent to my cell phone, since I don't want there to be the slightest chance that any of my grandchildren, whom we will be seeing soon, could spot them by accident. They don't need to be educated about horrors like this.

The generation of Ukrainians that is being forged by this invasion will not be a normal group of people. The Russians are being cut off, to the extent their government can, from seeing images like this, but they will get through. Putin won't be able to stop all of them.

[Hortensis]

36. Dreadful. A military expert on CNN was discussing an estimate

he'd heard of about 2500 Russian casualties so far. He either doubled that # because he suspected it was low or because it soon would be. But in any case, he said that 5000 military casualties was more than most Russians had known in living memory and predicted they were going to be unhappy about it.