Russian air defence mistakes a civilian plane for a Ukrainian drone
Ukrainian attacks on targets deep within Russia have had an unusual effect. Russians—even in regions far from the front line—began to fear drone raids. As a result, they accidentally fired on their civilian aircraft. The aged structure proved surprisingly resistant to damage.
The Russian city of Salavat is located in Bashkiria, approximately 1,300 kilometres from the border with Ukraine. It is a centre for oil refining—the Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat plant processes 11 million tonnes of crude oil annually.
On the night of 25 November at the refinery, a flying object appeared, which was deemed to be a Ukrainian drone. The fire was opened on the intruder with machine guns and anti-aircraft guns. As it later turned out, the supposed drone was a civilian Russian An-2 aircraft conducting a scheduled flight.
The An-2, with a two-person crew and a photographer, was flying over the refinery to take nighttime photos, but the local air defence was not informed.
A video showing the aircraft's condition after landing shows that the ground fire was exceptionally accurate, the crew was very lucky, and the old biplane aircraft proved to be extremely resistant to damage.
The An-2 was hit dozens of times by machine gun fire of various calibres and received one direct hit from a 23 mm calibre shell. This is the heaviest shell against which the construction of a heavily armoured attack aircraft like the A-10 provides safety. Meanwhile, the An-2 is a light civilian aircraft produced from the 1940s to the 1990s.
However, the old structure withstood the shooting surprisingly well. As noted by the Ukrainian service Defence Express, even taking a 23 mm shell hit in the wing, where there are fuel tanks with a capacity of 1,440 litres, did not cause a major problem. Despite the damage, the aircraft managed to land safely.
