The Sukhoi Su-24M supersonic bomber that was shot down and crashed practically on top of Ukrainian positions outside Bakhmut on Dec. 2. was flown by a pair of veteran aviators on contract with The Wagner Group, Russia’s notorious and mysterious mercenary firm.
The Su-24 is at least the third Wagner-flown warplane the Ukrainians have shot down since Russia widened its war on Ukraine starting in February. Wagner also has lost a pair of Sukhoi Su-25 attack jets.
The losses underscore the enduring threat Ukrainian air-defenses pose to Russian planes, and also highlight Wagner’s sizeable—perhaps even growing—share of the Russian air campaign over Ukraine.
It’s apparent that, when Wagner deploys significant ground forces, it also puts its own pilots in the cockpits of older Russian warplanes—and flies those planes in direct support of its fighters on the ground.
The legal, logistical and command framework for Wagner’s air operations remains murky, however. Does Wagner buy or rent Russian planes or merely borrow them? Does the Kremlin exercise any direct control over Wagner’s pilots or does the mercenary firm choose all its own targets and plan all its own sorties? Who compensates the families of the growing number of Wagner pilots who’ve died in combat?
Wagner’s involvement in the Ukraine air war became evident no later than late May, when Ukrainian troops firing a Stinger shoulder-fired, infrared-guided missile shot down an Su-25 over Popasna, 20 miles east of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region.
The BBC confirmed the man who died behind the Su-25’s controls while supporting the Russian attack around Popasna was Kanamat Botashev.
The 63-year-old Botashev was retired. He left the Russian air force as a general back in 2012 after “borrowing” a Sukhoi Su-27 fighter—a type he was not qualified to fly—and crashing it after a brief, acrobatic joyride. Following his retirement, Botashev reportedly signed with Wagner.
A month later, Ukrainian 72nd Mechanized Brigade troopers packing an Igla shoulder-fired missile shot down another Su-25 and captured Andrey Fedorchukov, the jet’s aging pilot. Fedorchukov told his interrogators he was on a $3,200-a-month Wagner contract.
Ukrainian troops also used a shoulder-fired missile to down the Su-24 over Bakhmut in December. The pilot and co-pilot both died and Russian forces retrieved the bodies. Russian media identified the crew as Alexander Antonov and Vladimir Nikishin. Photos indicate both aviators were in late middle age—and presumably had retired from active military service before joining Wagner.