[byla]

Lyman , massive fire from 2 days ago.
Reposted but the 2nd fottage shows the after.

[mileslong]

Originally Posted by WhiskeyOutpost ↗

- Report that retired Russian Air Force Major General Kanamat Botashev was reportedly shot down by a shoulder-fired Stinger over western Luhansk.

- If true he's the highest ranking pilot to have been killed in Ukraine.

- The Su-25 shot down over Luhansk the morning of May 22nd may have been his.

- In 2013 he was dismissed and retired from the air force because he crashed a Su-27 he was not cleared to fly

- Original reported by BBC's Russia Service, who stated this was confirmed by former colleagues of Botashev

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/...russian-a77788

https://www.bbc.com/russian/features-61559430

To be clear.. what you're saying is circumstantial? Not confirmed?

[byla]

A DNR Osa-AKM AD system shooting down a Ukrainian drone.


at 00:29

[WhiskeyOutpost]

Originally Posted by mileslong ↗

To be clear.. what you're saying is circumstantial? Not confirmed?

It's just a report, not confirmed. But these ones seem to be accurate when the're reported. One false one is when Ukranian telegrams claimed the Admiral Makarov ship was hit, that wasn't true. But reports of high ranking personnel becoming casualties seem to be rarely disputed.

[William May]

Originally Posted by WhiskeyOutpost ↗

Yeah, those are the exact numbers reported by Ukranian Govt and Telegrams so I might be a little skeptical. But either way it's very high.

I couldn't find what US intelligence is estimating currently but I remember their estimate like a month ago seemed a lot more sensible than the Ukranian numbers. Either way it's disastrous.

I've been impressed so far by Newsweek's reports. It they are just parroting Ukrainian releases, then it would be suspect, but they have reported on specific items in the past, and 3 days later, everything they said was confirmed. My assumption is they have one or more intelligence services acting as a "stringer" service and telling them what has been happening. Either that, or someone on their reporting staff has an old buddy in the intelligence field who is giving them scoops.
I do not know what their sources are.

[Faust]

Originally Posted by WhiskeyOutpost ↗

- Report that retired Russian Air Force Major General Kanamat Botashev was reportedly shot down by a shoulder-fired Stinger over western Luhansk.

- If true he's the highest ranking pilot to have been killed in Ukraine.

- The Su-25 shot down over Luhansk the morning of May 22nd may have been his.

- In 2013 he was dismissed and retired from the air force because he crashed a Su-27 he was not cleared to fly

- Original reported by BBC's Russia Service, who stated this was confirmed by former colleagues of Botashev

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/...russian-a77788

https://www.bbc.com/russian/features-61559430

Don’t you mean:

- If true he's the highest ranking retired and dismissed pilot to have been killed in Ukraine.
?

[WhiskeyOutpost]

Originally Posted by Faust ↗

Don’t you mean:

- If true he's the highest ranking retired and dismissed pilot to have been killed in Ukraine.
?

Out of all of that, that was your takeaway..?

I know you don't know many servicemen but it's an extremely common thing for retired servicemen to come out of retirement when their country needs them. In case you weren't aware, trained pilots are more valuable than jets my guy

[Faust]

Originally Posted by WhiskeyOutpost ↗

Out of all of that, that was your takeaway..?

I know you don't know many servicemen but it's an extremely common thing for retired servicemen to come out of retirement when their country needs them. In case you weren't aware, trained pilots are more valuable than jets my guy

Sure but ‘dismissed’ means?

“Sorry we take away medals please come back and fly airplane comrade, motherland needs you”

[Faust]

Fully agree that pilots are valuable still

[WhiskeyOutpost]

Originally Posted by Faust ↗

Sure but ‘dismissed’ means?

“Sorry we take away medals please come back and fly airplane comrade, motherland needs you”

In the US, this is called "forcible retirement". "Dismissed" might just be a translation thing. This does happen, one senior officer in my unit fucked up and he was retired way earlier than he would have wanted. He got off way too easy but he was a very experienced guy at what he did. If he asked to get back in during wartime, I bet the DoD would have considered it.

I would bet the Russians have a similar thing, especially during wartime. He's an experienced pilot with decades of service, I would bet he came back on his own accord and offered his services. Respectable.