Even Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency has acknowledged the scale of the challenge. According to the CCD, official estimates suggest that Russia could lose as many as 339 aircraft over the next five years due to wear and lack of spare parts.
See my previous post about Russia’s strategic bomber crisis as well as these two stories are deeply intertwined.
Strangely enough, the military plane was diverted to Ukraine, the passengers all volunteered to join the Army, and none of them came back from the front line!
Just a string of tragic coincidences.