Russian Strikes Leave No Space For NATO F-16 Fighters

Kiev is still waiting for the precious F-16 fighters. NATO aircraft are yet to come to Ukraine but the Ukrainian military failed to protect the strategically important infrastructure at the airfields.

During the first days of July alone, the Ukrainian Air Force suffered heavy losses as a result of a series of Russian precision strikes at the military airfields in different regions.

On July 1, several waves of Russian missile strikes hit the Mirgorod airfield in the Poltava region. The Ukrainian pilots had no time to take off the aircraft after the first attack, as a result the losses grew. The Russian Ministry of Defense officially declared that the group strikes destroyed five and damaged two more Ukrainian Su-27. The attack was coordinated by Russian reconnaissance UAV that was operating more than 150km away from the Russian border and passed unnoticed by Ukrainian air defenses.

On the next day, the airfield came under another attack. The Ukrainian Air Force lost at least one helicopter.

On July 3, a precision Russian Iskander strike hit an aircraft parking area at the Dolgintsevo airfield in the Dnipropetrovsk region. The Mig-29 aircraft of the Air Force of Ukraine, air missiles and vehicles of the aviation engineering service were destroyed.

The destruction of the remaining aircraft and damage to Ukrainian military airfields is mainly aimed to prevent Ukrainian forces from launching strikes on Russian territory, including the Crimean peninsula and new regions. Despite the large support provided by NATO, like intelligence data and advanced air launched missiles.

All the strikes were closely coordinated and the damage was confirmed by the footage from the Russian reconnaissance UAVs. Ukrainian forces began drawing fake aircraft on the ground in an attempt to confuse the enemy; but this did not help. The long close reconnaissance operations of Russian UAVs over the strategically important enemy military facilities leave Ukrainians no chance to hide their aircraft.

Other important targets of Russian strikes in recent days included large military-industrial facilities in the rear regions. On July 3, several military and industrial facilities were attacked by Russian kamikaze UAVs and missiles in Dnipro. At least ten explosions thundered in the city. Several strikes destroyed the workshops of the local Yuzhny Machinebuilding plant, which provided for the needs of the Ukrainian military. This is one of the main Ukrainian military enterprises that produced missiles and UAVs, as well as repaired damaged equipment.

The massive Russian strikes do not stop. On the night of July 4, Ukrainian media reported a series of explosions in three rear regions, including Chernihiv, Sumy and Zhytomyr.