Ukraine loses ground positions while winning some air battles | International

Ukraine’s new defensive strategy, driven by a shortage of artillery ammunition and the fatigue of its fighters after last spring’s failed counter-offensive, has yet to bear fruit. Since their withdrawal from Avdiivka (Donetsk, in the east of the country) on February 17, kyiv’s troops continue to gradually cede ground to the Russians. However, as they perfect their new containment plan against Moscow; Since that date, the country’s anti-aircraft defense has achieved a surprising success: shooting down 13 Russian military aircraft, including an airborne early warning and control aircraft, intended to fix ground targets and warn of the launch of surface-to-surface missiles. aerial missiles to Russian bombers during their attacks.

Ukraine’s good anti-aircraft streak began on the same day as the Avdiivka withdrawal, when two Russian Su-34 fighter-bombers and an Su-35 fighter were shot down in the east of the country, according to Mikola Oleschuk, commander in head of the Air Force, from kyiv. Since then, Russian planes have continued to fall; Thus, eight more Su-34s and another Su-35 were destroyed. According to thinking group According to the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW), the losses are significant for Russia, since its air force has around 300 combat aircraft of these models.

To Russian losses were added, on February 23, an A-50, a reconnaissance plane equipped with a radar whose function was to guide fighter pilots between Ukrainian anti-aircraft defenses and to indicate the targets that they must destroy on the ground. Furthermore, the Beriev A-50 plane was destroyed in Russian territory, far from Ukraine, between the cities of Rostov-on-Don and Krasnodar. According to kyiv, this is one of its most important successes – “an unprecedented feat” – because it forces Moscow to move away from the front to deploy these planes, which support the combat planes; thus making their work difficult. The spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force, Yuri Ignat, assured that since the destruction of the A-50, the Russians have no longer placed an aircraft of this type over the sea from Azov, where they normally operated. He also suggested that its fall would force fighter-bombers and fighters to move closer to their targets, putting the Kremlin at risk of being hit.

guided bombs

The Su-34 is a two-seat, long-range fighter-bomber and attack aircraft manufactured by the Russian state-owned Sukhoi. In the land offensive they have been waging since December, the Russians are using it as a tactical bomber to support their battalions on the ground. These are the fighter jets that launch the guided bombs that have caused significant damage to Ukrainian troops in recent weeks. The Su-35, designed by the same manufacturer, is a much smaller, more agile and maneuverable single-seater. It is for this reason that Oleschuk particularly celebrated the demolition of two of them.

Despite the blow in recent weeks, Moscow’s military pilots have not stopped. Russian forces, according to ISW analysts, seem ready to risk losing new bombers to achieve the advances they are gradually making in the Donetsk region, after the departure of Avdiivka and the abandonment of troops of Kiev of their strategy of advancement. to concentrate on defending the territory they control, reducing material losses, saving ammunition and ensuring the lives of their fighters.

Russian air superiority constitutes one of Ukraine’s weak points. Thus, the Netherlands and Denmark have committed to delivering F-16 fighter-bombers to kyiv; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky assured that his country hoped to receive them in the middle of this year. The agreements to receive the planes include training Ukrainian pilots in Western countries to learn how to use them, as well as cooperation in the maintenance and repair of these planes. In November, Zelensky assured that without control of the skies, Ukraine would not be able to recover the territory that Russia continues to occupy. “In 2024, the priority is to expel Russia from the sky,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba said in January. To which he added: “Whoever controls the sky will determine when and how the war ends. »

Follow all international news on Facebook And Xor in our weekly newsletter.

_