The Russian military took down its own drone after mistakenly identifying it as Ukrainian, according to reports by international media.
The incident happened in eastern Crimea on Sunday amid a heavy exchange of drone and artillery attacks between the two forces.
Sergey Aksyonov, the Russian head of the annexed region, initially stated that a Ukrainian drone was jammed and taken down by Russian electronic warfare equipment.
He posted a photo of the debris from the destroyed platform, but it immediately caught the attention of international defense analysts.
Foreign Policy Research Institute senior fellow Rob Lee noticed a close resemblance between the downed drone and the Iranian Mohajer-6 that Russia is using in the war.
He pointed out striking similarities in the wing and claimed that the drone was probably destroyed by Russian air defenses.
A Recurring Incident
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began last year, Moscow’s forces have been the subject of international criticism and mockery for their combat failures.
In September 2022, a Russian hypersonic missile meant to strike Kyiv was inadvertently dropped from a MiG-31 aircraft and struck a city inside Russia.
A booster was reportedly found in the wreckage, suggesting that the missile either misfired or was accidentally dropped.
After several months, a friendly-fire incident occurred involving a Ka-52 attack helicopter.
The Ukrainian Air Force posted a photo of the Russian chopper, which was allegedly shot down by a Pantsir-S1 surface-to-air missile system operated by Russia.