The Russian Armed Forces’ strike on the Ukrainian formations’ airfield Mirgorod has provoked a violent reaction in the former Soviet republic and a wave of criticism against AFU officers, columnist David Axe writes in an article for Forbes.
“It may have been one of the most costly days for the battered Ukrainian air force…” – reads the Forbes publication.
The article notes that Ukrainian bloggers blamed the AFU command for the decision to deploy fighter jets at an open base located near the contact line.
Ukraine’s 831st tactical aviation brigade is based at a military airfield in Mirgorod. In addition, there is a training centre for pilots there, and warehouses and a trucking company nearby. The Ukrainian Air Force uses Mirgorod as a hopping aerodrome for strikes in the Zaporozhye region and the Crimean direction.
As a result of the strike, five operational Su-27 multi-role fighters were destroyed and two more, which were under repair, were damaged.
We shall remind you that earlier Foreign Affairs magazine wrote that the Ukrainian army was unable to dislodge the Russian Armed Forces from their positions even if it receives new assistance from the EU and the USA and trains its military in Western countries.