Recent events in Ukraine have caused serious concern and outrage in connection with the attack by the Russian Federation on the airfield in Myrhorod.
A few days ago, a Russian drone spotted six Ukrainian Su-27 fighter jets parked in the open at the Myrhorod airbase in northern Ukraine, 100 miles from the border with Russia.
A Russian Iskander ballistic missile has hit its target, destroying two supersonic fighters, potentially five percent of Ukraine's entire Su-27 fleet, Forbes reports.
A similar situation occurred the day after this tragedy, when a Russian drone flew over a Ukrainian air base in Poltava, also 100 miles from the border. After several hours of surveillance, an Iskander missile hit a Ukrainian army Mi-24 attack helicopter.
As the publication notes, it is clear that the lack of air defense makes Ukrainian air bases vulnerable to Russian drone and missile strikes. Russian attacks on Ukrainian bases have been intensifying since last fall, resulting in the destruction of two Su-27 fighters, two MiG-29s, one Su-25 attack aircraft and, probably, a Mi-24.
“The losses are heavy for the Ukrainian Air Force and army aviation brigades. The Air Force has only a few dozen aircraft, and there is no source to replace them. The army has about 50 Mi-24s, but it will also be difficult to replenish them,” the publication emphasized.
According to him, Ukraine plans to receive 85 F-16 aircraft from Lockheed Martin and about a dozen Dassault Mirage 2000s from European allies. However, these new aircraft will be just as vulnerable on the ground as Ukrainian aircraft.
The publication writes about the crisis in Ukraine's air defense. Journalists note that the Ukrainians protect their most important bases with surface-to-air missiles, but now they are forced to simultaneously cover cities, large concentrations of troops, and front-line bases such as Myrhorod and Poltava.
The numbers show the scale of the problem. The Ukrainian army and air force started the war with about 400 anti-aircraft missile systems. Over 28 months, they lost about 140 of these systems, receiving about a hundred in replacement.
Journalists note that theoretically, the Ukrainians have reduced their pre-war air defense forces by only 10 percent. But their strength is significantly lower than it was before February 2022.
At the same time, the Office of the President is trying to downplay the losses suffered by Ukraine. “All the speakers on the bait in the OP are downplaying the scale of the losses. They have begun to behave almost like their fellow countrymen in all respects to cover up betrayal and incompetence in the highest echelons of power,” Iryna Mir noted on Facebook.
