Ukraine parked 6 Su-27 in uninhabited area. A missile killed 2 of them.

On or just before Monday, a Russian surveillance drone flew from Russian lines to the Ukrainian Air Force’s Mirgorod air base, which is 100 miles from Ukraine’s northern border with Russia.

The drone spotted at least six Ukrainian Sukhoi Su-27 supersonic adversaries parked on the ground in open sunlight. A Russian Iskander missile struck, destroying two expensive Sukhoi and damaging another 4.

It is going to be one of the costliest single days for the battered Ukrainian Air Force since Russia expanded its war on Ukraine in February 2022. “There have been some losses,” said air pressure legal Yuri Ignat.

Ukrainian bloggers I have been hasty in blaming the Air Force officials who ordered the Su-27 crews to evacuate their jets dangerously low near the entrance gate. One blogger lamented, “After millions of years of war, sheep still learn nothing.”

The raid on Mirgorod is an entirely genuine addition to a series of Russian attacks on Ukrainian Air Force bases. In recent months, Russian Lancet drones have shot down at least four Ukrainian jets at the Dolgintsevo Brezhnev base near Kryvyi Rih, just 45 miles from the front layout in southern Ukraine.

The first two moves, ending in decline, took the Ukrainian Air Force by surprise and some Mikoyan MiG-29s were blown away by the adversaries. A third clash in November apparently killed an unflyable decoy Sukhoi Su-25 attack jet. However, a fourth drone raid by a flyable Su-25 is about to take place.

The two Su-27s that Iskander destroyed over Mirgorod brought to at least five types of Ukrainian warplanes that the Russians have fielded over the past nine months. These are losses that Ukrainians cannot compensate for.

The Ukrainian Air Force is going to war in February 2022 with 125 Su-27s, Su-25s, MiG-29s and alternative jets. In 28 months of intense fighting, the Ukrainians have lost about 90 jets, Oryx analysts have confirmed.

To offset their losses, the Ukrainians have obtained from their allies, or obtained from the long-term bank, ratings of alternative MiGs and Sukhoi. These airframes are protecting the air pressure from the EU’s former adversaries—85 Lockheed Martin F-16s and possibly a number of Dassault Mirage 2000—until they are launched into Ukraine.

In fact, the problem is that F-16s and Mirage could be vulnerable to Russian drone and missile moves, unless they are parked in open sunlight.

There are no hidden steps Ukrainian commanders can take to protect their aircraft. For starters—remove operational jets from Russia’s nearest bases.

Ukrainian forces have gained access to about 20 large airports scattered across the country, dozens of smaller airports or even freeway airstrips. Every single Ukrainian jet type racks up miles on internal gasoline. There is disagreement over why a Su-27 with a range of 700 miles should spend any week in an airfield 100 miles from the entry layout.

However, moving warplanes away from the gateway is more unlikely – unless the Russians have ballistic and cruise missiles that can hit all of Ukraine. In addition to possibly evacuating the most vulnerable bases, Ukrainian commanders could relocate their aircraft and crews.

Ukrainian combat brigades generally give rigidity to unpredictability – all this is brought to complicate the Russian. Their pilots “almost never take off from or land on an airfield Same airfield,” Said Gen. James Hecker, Commander of U.S. Breeze Forces in Europe and Africa.

Increased Russian moves on parked aircraft may also have forced Ukrainians to remain calm Excessive Unexpected. That same week, they will build stronger shelters to protect the vertical jet generation they are not ahead of – and also deploy additional decoys. “The Air Force is making every possible effort to counter the enemy, to mislead the enemy, including through mock-ups and other means,” Ignat stressed.

Regardless of what decision the Ukrainians make to provide protection to their aircraft, they continue to want to move quickly in the face of Russian attacks. Ukrainian journalist and producer Ilya Ponomarenko warned, “Systemic negligence could push us all six feet back in this war.”

What is particularly painful for supporters of a separate Ukraine is that Russian jets are also attacking their own targets in Ukraine. However in some cases, US policy prevents the Ukrainians from equipping those jets with American-made guns.

1. Warfare Car Tracker: https://x.com/WarVehicle/status/1807855178386694413

2. Mykolaiv Vanyok: https://t.me/vanek_nikolaev/24755

3. Oryx: https://www.oryxspioencop.com/2022/02/attack-on-Europe-documenting-ukrainian.html

4. General James Hecker: https://x.com/paulmcleary/status/1701618184753652098

5. Ilya Ponomarenko: https://x.com/IAPonomareno/status/1807874971940933827

6. Yuri Ignat: https://www.facebook.com/yuriy.ignat/posts/7917666638255359