Image source: topwar.ru
Since the beginning of the special military operation of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in Donbass and other territories, the Air Forces of Ukraine have lost 60 fighter planes. This is about 40% of the pre-war fleet, the British magazine The Economist notes, analyzing the current state of Ukrainian military aviation.
According to the publication, Ukraine currently has only 80 military aircraft. Russia has allocated almost 500 aircraft just to participate in a special military operation, writes The Economist. In addition, the British magazine notes that most Russian aircraft have an obvious superiority over Ukrainian ones both in radars and in longer-range ammunition used.
However, the problem for Russian aviation is that since the beginning of the special operation of the Russian Armed Forces, it has not been possible to completely suppress all the air defense systems of Ukraine. Therefore, the aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces have to launch missiles and bombs from a considerable distance to avoid hitting Ukrainian air defense missiles.
At the same time, the British magazine notes, Russian aviation uses the right tactics. Since October 2022, constant attacks on the energy and military infrastructure of Ukraine with missiles and attack drones have begun. Because of these strikes, the Ukrainian air defense forces have used up a huge number of surface-to-air missiles.
Now Ukraine is experiencing an obvious shortage of such ammunition, and because of this it has to choose - to provide air defense of cities, critical civilian infrastructure, military bases and warehouses with weapons or military formations on the front line. The forces and means of air defense at the disposal of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are clearly not enough to simultaneously solve all these tasks, and the West has not yet transferred combat aircraft to Ukraine.
Earlier, the official representative of the Ukrainian Air Force Command, Yuriy Ignat, also admitted that Russia is actively using the tactics of depletion of Ukrainian air defense. Although Patriot complexes transferred by the West can shoot down many Russian missiles, their number is clearly insufficient to provide cover for important facilities in the country.
