For months, we have been hearing how Ukraine is ‘soon’ to receive f-16 planes from the West, in a bid to rebuild its decimated Air Force.
In the meantime, Russian Federation forces are repeatedly targeting the main air fields and extending the destruction list of fighter jets that’s almost at 100 planes since the start of the war.
The Mirgorod air base, located 100 miles from the frontline in the Poltava region, suffered multiple attacks in the month of June – and the attacks are getting ever more destructive.
Yesterday, a Russian Orlan surveillance drone was surveilling the Mirgorod air base, and spotted ‘at least six’ Ukrainian Su-27 supersonic fighters parked in the open at the base in broad daylight.
A Russian Iskander missile attack followed. Iskander operational-tactical missile system was initiated to strike the Ukrainian Mirgorod airfield.
Ukrainians say two of the planes were destroyed, and the other four were damaged. The Russian Ministry of Defense states that five operational Su-27 multirole fighters were destroyed, and two under repair were damaged.
Forbes reported:
“It may have been one of the costliest single days for the battered Ukrainian air arm since Russia widened its war on Ukraine in February 2022. ‘There are some losses’, air force official Yuriy Ignat acknowledged.”
Ukrainian bloggers and social media users were quick to blame air force officers for deciding to park their jets out in the open, especially in a base so close to the front line.
“The raid on Mirgorod is just the latest in a series of Russian strikes on vulnerable Ukrainian air bases. In recent months, Russian Lancet drones have struck at least four Ukrainian jets at Dolgintsevo air base near Kryvyi Rih, just 45 miles from the front line in southern Ukraine.”
The Su-27s at Mirgorod increase the number of Ukrainian warplanes blown up on the ground – losses the ailing Ukrainian air force may not recover from.
“The Ukrainian air force went to war in February 2022 with around 125 Su-27s, Su-25s, MiG-29s and other jets. In 28 months of hard fighting, the Ukrainians have lost around 90 jets that the analysts at Oryx have confirmed.
To make good their losses, the Ukrainians have acquired from their allies, or restored from long-term storage, scores of replacement MiGs and Sukhois. These airframes are keeping the air force in action until ex-European fighters—85 Lockheed Martin F-16s and perhaps a dozen Dassault Mirage 2000s—arrive in Ukraine.”
This is just stupid
Russian Forces, using a Cluster Missile and a Iskander-M SRBM, managed to destroyed 2x UkrAF SU-27/(UB?), and damage 4 other SU-27s, which were all parked in the open at Mirgorod Airbase
I have no words, whoever is in charge of the base, needs to get fired pic.twitter.com/pvZRRqdbyV
— WarVehicleTracker (@WarVehicle) July 1, 2024
F-16s and Mirages will also be vulnerable unless steps are taken to protect them. To pull operational jets away from Russian territory would be a start.
“Ukrainian forces have access to around 20 large air bases, dozens of smaller airfields and even highway airstrips scattered across the country. Every single Ukrainian jet type ranges hundreds of miles on internal fuel. There’s no reason for an Su-27 that ranges 700 miles to spend any time at an airfield a hundred miles from the front line.”
Of course, Russians have missiles that can strike across Ukraine all the way to Lvov in the border with Poland.
Ukrainians must move quickly in their countermeasures, or face destruction.
⚡️Ihor Mosiychuk gives ‘the truth’ about the Russian missile strike on Ukrainian Mirgorod airbase: pic.twitter.com/yqtYUVkA8F
— SIMPLICIUS Ѱ (@simpatico771) July 2, 2024
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