The Russian air force is facing “unsustainable” losses of fighters in Ukraine with 15 aircraft shot down in the past month, it can be disclosed. While they suffered high ground combat losses in taking Avdiivka – some estimates put it at 17,000 dead – the air force is now taking heavy casualties too. On Saturday, the Ukrainian Air Force reported it had destroyed three Su-34 fight bombers that were launching glide-bomb strikes against their positions, bringing the number shot down since February 17 to 15. The Russians were “being blinded and prevented from monitoring Ukrainian air space, one A-50 at a time”, said Canadian open-source intelligence researcher Steffan Watkins. Russia was instead attempting to press forward on the Avdiivka front, deciding continued “offensive operations with air support outweigh the risk of losing more aircraft”.

Source: Forbes March 03, 2024 15:56 UTC