Direct proof of use
The Il-22 airborne command post is documented in the 2014 Russia-Ukraine War through the 14 January 2024 Sea of Azov incident. Associated Press reported that Ukraine's military chief said Ukrainian forces had downed a Russian A-50 early-warning aircraft and an Il-22 command-center aircraft; the same report described the Il-22 as an airborne command post that oversees military operations and relays radio signals to front-line troops.
Aviation Safety Network separately records a Russian Air Force Il-22M-11RT, RF-95678, damaged by Ukrainian armed forces in the Kerch area on 14 January 2024, with injured occupants and an emergency landing at Anapa in Krasnodar Krai. That record supports the aircraft's presence and damage in the same conflict-use context even though public accounts differ on whether the Il-22 was destroyed or damaged and recovered.
Sources: AP Sea of Azov Command Aircraft, Aviation Safety Network Il-22M-11RT RF-95678
Timeline
On the night of 14 January 2024, Ukrainian officials said Ukrainian forces destroyed an A-50 and severely damaged an Il-22 airborne command-post aircraft over the Sea of Azov region. ISW's 15 January assessment summarized Ukrainian official statements, including the claim that flight-tracking footage indicated strikes on both aircraft and that the Il-22 was forced to land at Anapa.
Reporting the next day treated the incident as part of Russia's high-value airborne command-and-control losses in the full-scale war. Janes quoted General Valerii Zaluzhnyi's 15 January statement that Ukrainian Air Force crews destroyed an A-50 and an Il-22 air-control post in the Azov region.
Sources: ISW January 15 Campaign Assessment, Janes Russia Loses ISR Aircraft
Narrative
The documented Il-22 role in this conflict is command-and-control support, not strike delivery. AP described the Il-22 as a command aircraft used to relay information to ground troops, while ISW identified the aircraft in the Sea of Azov incident as an airborne command post. The parent type's battlefield significance therefore comes from its communications and air-command function within Russian operations.
The public record for this page is narrow. It establishes Russian operation of an Il-22-series command aircraft in the war and a Ukrainian engagement that damaged or, in Ukrainian statements, destroyed it on 14 January 2024. It does not establish the exact weapon used against the aircraft, the full mission tasking of RF-95678, or a complete count of Il-22 sorties in the theater.
Sources: AP Sea of Azov Command Aircraft, ISW January 15 Campaign Assessment, Aviation Safety Network Il-22M-11RT RF-95678
