The Defence Intelligence of Ukraine has revealed the names of war criminals from the Tu-22M3 strategic bomber crew of the Russian Aerospace Forces shot down on April 19.

The DIU press service reported on this.

The aircraft with the tail number 11 belonged to the 52nd Heavy Bomber Regiment, located in the military unit 33310 at the Shaikovka air base in the Kaluga region of the Russian Federation.

The said regiment is part of the 22nd Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Division of the Long-Range Aviation Command of the Russian Aerospace Forces.

On April 19, 2024, a Tu-22M3 bomber took off from the North Caucasus Mozdok airbase to Stanytsia Kushchevskaya in Krasnodar Krai, the line of launch of Kh-22 missiles at Ukraine’s territory.

“The plane was hit at a distance of 308 kilometers, which is far enough. Let’s just say that the fruitful and long work is paying off. […] This is the first downing of a long-range aviation aircraft in this war,” Chief of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov told the BBC.

Subsequently, the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine identified the names and detailed information about four war criminals from the crew of the downed Russian Tu-22M3 bomber.

It is reported that all four were able to eject, but only two survived:

• The aircraft commander – Sergey Anatolyevich Kolesnikov, deputy squadron commander for military and political work, major, personal number E-199209, lives in Shaykovka, house 7, apartment 55, divorced, has a daughter.
• Navigator of the air unit – Skryabichev Aleksandr Vladimirovich, captain, personal number E-179241, lives in Shaykivka, house 1, apartment 8, wife – Skryabiechieva Natalia, two sons.
• Сopilot – Kononov Andrey Yurievich, captain, personal number F-193346, lived in Shaykivka, house 1, apartment 41, wife – Kononova Svetlana, two daughters. Liquidated along with the TU-22M3 aircraft on April 19, 2024.
• Bombardier/navigator – Andriy Oleksandrovych Hrushanin, senior lieutenant, personal number MT-498741, divorced, no children. Liquidated along with the TU-22M3 aircraft on April 19, 2024.

As a reminder, the aggressor country’s plane crashed in a field near the village of Bogomolov in the Stavropol Territory.

Eyewitnesses’ videos showed the plane burning and falling to the ground in a “flat stall.”

The aggressor country’s Ministry of Defense reported that the cause of the crash was an alleged technical malfunction, but this information needs to be verified.

Tu-22M3

The Tu-22M3’s first flight took place in 1977, and it was brought to its current form when it entered service in 1989. The last aircraft rolled off the assembly line in 1993.

The airplane has a crew of four and can carry three Kh-22 missiles. It is 42.45 m long, 11.05 m high, and has a wingspan of 34.28 and 23.8 m, depending on the sweep mode.

The aircraft is equipped with two NK-25 engines, each of which has a thrust of 14,500 kilograms in normal operation and 25,000 in afterburner mode. The flight range without refueling is up to 7 thousand kilometers.

The flight range is 6 thousand kilometers, and with a maximum load, it is 2.4 thousand kilometers.

It is reported that as of 2024, there are 57 Tu-22M3s in the Russian arsenal.