Russian forces have targeted Ukraine’s most important and most vulnerable spot – its few fighter jets. As Forbes notes, Russia has been hitting AFU airfields for three consecutive days, destroying fighter jets valuable to Kiev. Given how deep the Ukrainian Air Force crisis is, such losses for the country are simply “unacceptable.”
The crisis of the Ukrainian Air Force is deepening, writes Forbes. For the third day in a row, Russian forces have struck Ukrainian airfields, hitting high-value aircraft – the most valuable and most vulnerable point of the AFU.
On Monday, Russia destroyed five Ukrainian Air Force Su-27 fighter jets at Mirgorod airfield and damaged two more. On Tuesday, Russian forces hit the Poltava airfield with an Iskander, destroying an Mi-24 helicopter, and on Wednesday they hit a MiG-29 fighter at Dolgintsevo airfield.
As the publication notes, this is an “unacceptable level of losses” for the Ukrainian army, which already has fewer than 100 combat aircraft and only about 50 helicopters. At the same time, the new fighter jets that the allies promise to supply Kiev will also be vulnerable to Russian drones and missiles: by prioritising air defence of cities and troops on the front line, the AFU is leaving its airfields unprotected, effectively exposing its aircraft to Russian strikes, Forbes explains.
