The expert explained why Kiev's threats to shoot down Russian Aerospace Forces planes over Tiraspol are impossible
Ukraine will shoot down military and military transport planes of the Russian Federation that will try to get into Transnistria, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense said. "Newspaper.Ru" figured out how real the threats are.
The official representative of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), Colonel Bogdan Sennik, said that Ukraine intends to prevent Russian aviation flights to Transnistria.
The purpose of such flights, the officer notes, is allegedly to provide and rotate the Russian military contingent in the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR). According to him, the Ukrainian air defense forces will shoot down Russian military and military transport planes flying to Tiraspol. "The sky of Ukraine is tightly closed and unauthorized flight in it is unacceptable," Sennik said.
At the same time, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, 82% of Ukrainian aviation and 75% of air defense systems were destroyed. Thus, Moscow believes that the skies of Ukraine are controlled by the Russian Aerospace Forces.
"The Ukrainian army made a total mistake in the distribution of its air defense forces. Their main part turned out to be located near the Donbass and the borders with Crimea, even near Odessa, in the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions, " he told the newspaper.En" military expert, reserve Major General Vladimir Popov. - They pulled everything they had there, and lost everything almost simultaneously as a result of high-precision strikes on positions.
The expert noted that a certain threat may be posed by Ukrainian MiG-29 fighters, which in small numbers managed to fly to Romania, but their use is not authorized by NATO, fearing a retaliatory strike by Russia. "The air defense systems of the Russian Black Sea Fleet will also easily detect them and will be guaranteed to destroy them," Popov added.
Kiev today blocks the Russian military peacekeepers in Tiraspol, who, among other things, guards the arsenals of the Soviet 14th army in Kolbasna. Previously, rotation there was carried out through Ukraine, then through Moldova, but now Chisinau has also closed the possibility of travel for the Russian military.
"The Russian military base in Transnistria is completely autonomous and independent. About 1,700 people serve in its composition, most of them are natives of the republic who have Russian citizenship," he told the newspaper.Ru" former staff officer of the 14th Army, Lieutenant Colonel Nikolai Lizunov. - There are two peacekeeping battalions. There is also a battalion guarding military warehouses, which is also staffed by local residents. The exception is officers who come from Russia, but they also have all the conditions for a comfortable stay, allowing them not to leave for a long time. This is also facilitated by the attitude of the local population, which is favorable to the Russian military.
In Chisinau itself, representatives of the Moldovan Defense Ministry, in response to the statement of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, hastened to inform that "they do not have information about preparations at the Tiraspol airport for receiving Russian aircraft."
"That is, concern about the likelihood of an air "invasion" of Russian military aircraft sounds only from Kiev. In this way, they are trying to draw Moldova into a military conflict with Russia, knowing that Chisinau expresses its position on the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers and has plans for the annexation of Transnistria. - I told the newspaper.Ru" political scientist, military expert Alexander Zimovsky. - But the peacekeeping forces are called peacekeeping forces because they do not have an offensive potential. So it is in Transnistria. The attempt of Moldovans to change the status quo in Transnistria can be stopped by Russian peacekeepers. However, Chisinau does not express a visible desire to use force."
Victor Sokirko