Russian Air Force General comes out of retirement to help CRUSH Ukraine, gets shot down by Stinger missle made in USA

RIP Major General Kanamat Botashev




A Russian Air Force Major General has been shot out of the sky above the Luhansk region, marking the latest in a long line of high-profile military losses sustained by Russia amid its invasion of Ukraine.

Major General Kanamat Botashev, 63, was enjoying retirement when Russian tanks rolled across the border on February 24 and had not flown since 2012.

His Su-25 fighter jet was hit by a Stinger missile at around 8:25am on Sunday morning in the Donbas skies, and he was unable to eject.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported an Su-25 had been downed in Luhansk, and one of Botashev's former colleagues confirmed his death to BBC Russian Service.

It is unclear why a retired general - the highest-ranking pilot to have been shot down in the war - was at the controls of a fighter jet worth £9million.

Botashev's former colleague told the BBC that 'he simply could not stay away' when offered a chance to fly, but the loss of such a high-ranking, elderly general suggests the Russian air force does not have enough pilots capable of conducting sorties over Ukraine.

The retiree is the 10th Russian general believed to have died already in Ukraine, while more than 40 colonels have been killed in bloody fighting.

The Land Forces of Ukraine meanwhile declared in its latest count on Friday that 204 Russian planes have been destroyed over Ukrainian skies.



Born in 1959 in Karachay-Cherkessia, Botashev graduated from the Yeysk Higher Military Aviation Institute and quickly established himself as an excellent pilot, qualifying as a fighter-bomber and rising rapidly through the ranks.

Botashev commanded a regiment of the Guards Air Base in Voronezh, a Russian city located roughly 300 miles south of Moscow.

His military career was cut short in June 2012 after he was found guilty of flying two aircraft without authorisation - one of which he crashed while performing aerobatics.

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