The Ukrainian Air Force has increased airstrikes in support of the country’s forces over the last several weeks against the backdrop of a Russian Ministry of Defense announcement that Ukraine’s air fleet is now out of action.
Observers record an increase in the activity of the Ukrainian Air Force in the Eastern and Southern regions facing attacks from the Russian army.
So far, photos and videos that have appeared on social media in the last few days confirmed that the Ukrainian Armed Forces still have a significant majority of their air combat power available to them, both fixed-wing and rotary-wing.
Ukrainian military aircraft and helicopters are launching massive airstrikes against Russian targets with aerial bombs, missiles, rockets, and even machine guns. In addition, Ukrainian military aviation is actively involved in the implementation of landing operations.
#Ukraine: The Ukrainian Air force is still alive- seen here are two Ukrainian Su-27 striking Russian facilities on the famous Snake Island in the Black Sea, in remarkable footage filmed by a TB-2 drone.
As we can observe, there is serious damage. pic.twitter.com/ogN3gOU8uJ
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) May 7, 2022
A Ukrainian Antonov An-26 trimming highway hedges pic.twitter.com/4NBlp1PO9v
— Cᴀʟɪʙʀᴇ Oʙsᴄᴜʀᴀ (@CalibreObscura) May 7, 2022
Video of a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter firing rockets into the air and popping flares. Video was posted yesterday. https://t.co/tA8pAgfap5 pic.twitter.com/kINQAq7TUb
— Rob Lee (@RALee85) April 30, 2022
At the same time, the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that the “majority” of the Ukrainian air fleet was destroyed and there are practically no trained Ukrainian pilots of the first and second class left.
“To date, only single attempts to sorties by combat aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force have been recorded,” Ministry of Defense spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said in a video message.
Ukraine’s ability to keep flying air force jets is a visible demonstration of the country’s resilience in the face of attack and has been a morale booster, both to its own military and Ukraine’s people, Western experts say.