Dramatic moment wing falls off ageing £15m Putin warplane in middle of Ukraine attack mission – as amazingly pilot survives

Dramatic footage has caught the extraordinary moment the wing of a £15million Russian warplane fell off in the middle of a Ukraine attack mission.

The attack jet crashed after flying in a pair over Ukraine’s Donetsk region, with the pilot miraculously cheating death by ejecting before his aircraft fell to the ground.

The doomed Su-25 warplane is seen on the video turning and falling out of the sky, crashing into a field.

At first it appeared it had been shot down, with Ukrainian media claiming it had possibly been the victim of ‘friendly fire’ by an unguided missile from its partner plane.

The footage shows heat trap flares and possible missiles from the Su-25s.

Yet experts on both sides now believe downing near Soledar had a different cause, related to Vladimir Putin’s use of war planes that are 40 year old – or even more antiquated.

While there are flames and white smoke as it gets into trouble, there is no explosion, which would be expected if there was a direct missile hit.

The right wing is seen falling from the stricken aircraft – and the pilot’s parachute is visible after ejecting.

The footage shows heat trap flares and possible missiles from the Su-25s

While there are flames and white smoke as it gets into trouble, there is no explosion, which would be expected if there was a direct missile hit

The right wing is seen falling from the stricken aircraft – and the pilot’s parachute is visible after ejecting

The pilot was reportedly rescued by Russian ground forces while under fire from Ukrainian drones. An Mi-8 helicopter then arrived at the crash site and evacuated him.

‘The pilot is in the hospital with a broken arm,’ reported a Russian Telegram channel. 

‘A commission will investigate what went wrong and determine who is to blame.’

The same source says that ‘destruction of the wing’ was the cause.

Officially, Ukraine has not claimed to have shot down the plane, nor taunted Russia over another friendly fire incident.

The visible ‘missiles’ may be unignited heat trap flares designed to distract heat-seeking missiles away from the aircraft’s engines, according to some sources.

Ukraine’s Militarny media outlet ruled out both friendly fire and an exploding missile on the distressed aircraft.

The Su-25 (above) is a Soviet-designed close-air support aircraft developed by Sukhoi in the late 1970s

‘The third possible reason is a defect in the aircraft’s power structure that arose due to prolonged intensive use of the aircraft in combat operations or a manufacturing defect,’ said the channel.

‘This hypothesis is supported by the fact that the wing broke off at the moment of the turn, when it is subjected to the greatest loads.

‘Another indirect confirmation may be that the operation of Russian attack aircraft, whose average age reaches 40 years, is associated with a significant number of emergency situations.’

The theory was backed by Ukrainian war analyst Yury Butusov, who said: ‘At first it seems that it was shot down by its own pilot, the pilot of another aircraft.

‘However, when viewed in slow motion, one can conclude that the Su-25’s wing failed due to excessive overload and exhaustion of the attack aircraft’s resources.’

The Su-25 is a Soviet-designed close-air support aircraft developed by Sukhoi in the late 1970s.