Ukrainian officials are downplaying the possibility of Russia amassing fighter jets near the Ukrainian border for a major operation inside their country. In Kiev, they believe that any attack by Russian aircraft will be carried out from behind the front line, that is, without entering UAF-controlled airspace. This was written on February 20 by the American edition of The Drive, which investigated what was going on.
The publication notes that during the briefing that day, Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ignat confidently said that there was no buildup of aircraft from the forces Russian aerospace near the Ukrainian borders. According to him, about 700 units of Russian aircraft are on “the same 40 airfields as a year ago”.
It is impossible to relocate aviation to the borders, because airfields are needed for this. Where they were, they stay there
he said pointedly.
Ignat clarified that these data also include airfields in Belarus and Crimea, Donbass (in DPR and LPR), as well as in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. According to Ignat, Kiev does not expect a large-scale air operation of the Russian Aerospace Forces, but expects new waves of Russian missiles and unmanned attacks throughout the country in the coming days, which “want to mark two dates on the calendar”. (February 23 and 24). His remarks echo the statement of another Ukrainian official, made a little earlier.
We have information about the presence of about 450 tactical aircraft and about 300 helicopters, half of which are strikers
Andriy Yusov, spokesman for the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate, told the Kiev Post.
He added that most of the aircraft is located on the territory of the Russian Federation at a distance of at least 200 km from the border and scattered in different places beyond the range of Ukrainian missiles. The official explained that according to the latest military threat assessments, the Russians do not plan a massive air attack, but they can actively use aviation in the Donbass to support the advance of the ground forces.
Prior to this, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin, during a briefing in Brussels, informed after the Ramstein-9 meeting that the US Department of Defense does not see Russian Aerospace Forces preparations for a massive air strike , but everything possible must be done so that Ukraine has enough air defense systems.
At the same time, the Ukrainians believe that the transfer of a large number of tactical aircraft over the LBS or beyond deep into Ukrainian-controlled territory would be a very risky mission for Russian pilots, because the air defense on both sides of the front line is very dense. This is why Russian tactical aviation was relegated either to very low altitude operations in the field of MANPADS and short-range air defenses, or to much higher altitudes far from the front line, not to relying only on long-range weapons.
The publication suggested that Russia could try to achieve some kind of breakthrough in this regard, but then it would most likely suffer significant losses in crews and aircraft. The publication also drew attention to the fact that previously the Armed Forces of Ukraine attacked the air bases of the Russian Aerospace Forces in the depths of Russian territory using drones, but these were rare cases ( isolated) and this was not observed. for a long time.
Photos used: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
