On April 3, local time, a Russian Su-35 fighter was shot down over the Ijum area near Kharkiv, becoming the first actual combat loss of the most advanced non-stealth fighter in active Service of the Russian Army, of course, this is the first loss with evidence, after that, there was news that the Ukrainian army shot down the Su-35.
It is worth noting that at that time, the Su-35 was likely to be on a hunting mission, including attacking any Ukrainian Air Force fighter that dared to take off and any Ukrainian ground air defense system that dared to start, and the Pilot of the Ukrainian Air Force admitted that the Su-35 fighter carrying the R-77 active medium-range bomb was extremely dangerous, and the Su-35 could also be mounted with improved KH-31 anti-radiation missiles, which was a great threat to the Ukrainian ground air defense system. As for how the Su-35 was shot down by the Ukrainian air defense system, it is not clear.
Also on April 3, the Ukrainian Air Force almost achieved another greater result than shooting down the Su-35: a Il-22PP "Logger" electronic warfare aircraft of the Russian Air and Space Force was attacked by Ukrainian air defense forces, and subsequently, the Ukrainian army claimed that, according to the results of communication surveillance, although the Il-22PP "Logger" was not shot down, it was still damaged, and its booster module was broken, forcing it to quickly descend to altitude and return to the base.
The Il-22PP "Logger" is the latest type of electronic warfare aircraft developed by Russia after the end of the Cold War, benchmarking the US Air Force's EC-130H "compass call". Although a modification of the old Il-18 transport aircraft, the Il-22PP "Logger" was not officially delivered to the Russian Airs and Space Forces until 2016, and the most obvious identification feature of the aircraft is the four large radomes installed on both sides of the fuselage, which is equipped with the Okra reconnaissance/active jamming system, which can perform electronic signal intelligence gathering and defense-zone jamming tasks.
It is reasonable to say that the Il-22PP "Logger", an electronic warfare aircraft, generally flying over the battlefield far away, is not known how it was injured by the Ukrainian army. But what is certain is that despite the continuous attacks of the Russian army, the air defense network of the Ukrainian army is still operating effectively, and more than two-thirds of the air defense weapons are still operating as usual, including long-range air defense systems such as the S-300, and have been supported by NATO intelligence, NATO reconnaissance aircraft and early warning aircraft fly 24 hours a day near the western border of Ukraine, from obtaining intelligence to handing over to the ukrainian front-line troops, no more than 1 hour.
It is worth noting that the Il-22PP "Logger" also has a brother in law, the Il-20 "Black Crow", the latter of which is benchmarked against the US Navy EP-3 "Orion". Compared with the Il-22PP "Logger", who was only injured this time, the Il-20 "Black Crow" was much more miserable:
On the night of September 17, 2018, when the Israeli Air Force attacked targets in Syria, a Il-20M of the Russian Army stationed in Syria took off from the Khmeming Air Base and tried to take the opportunity to collect relevant electronic intelligence of the Israeli Air Force, but was shot down on the spot by an S-200 air defense missile launched by the Syrian air defense force, and the warhead of the S-200 air defense missile weighed 218 kg, and the unfortunate Il-20M was blown up on the spot, and all 15 people on board were killed.
Afterwards, the Russian government put the responsibility for the downing of the Il-20M on Israel's head, but from the follow-up reports, Israel does not seem to be responsible, at least there is no apology or compensation, the Il-20M co-production is even if it was sacrificed in vain, after all, in the final analysis, it was shot down by the Syrian air defense forces, but there is news that the commander of the Syrian air defense force who shot down the Il-20M was shot, but this news was not confirmed by the Russian and Syrian officials.