The Russian military has destroyed nine fighter jets operated by the Ukrainian Air Force in the past 24 hours, the defense ministry reported during a regular briefing on Tuesday.
It had earlier released footage showing an airstrike on Ukraine’s Mirgorod airfield in Poltava Region. A total of seven Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jets were destroyed or damaged in the Iskander-M missile strike, the ministry said.
A later update reported that another Su-27 and a MiG-29 had been shot down by Russian air defenses. They also intercepted six British-supplied Storm Shadow cruise missiles, a French-made AASM Hammer glide bomb, a HIMARS rocket and 81 unmanned aircraft, including a Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drone, the report said.
Forbes military observer David Axe has called the Mirgorod strike “one of the costliest single days for the battered Ukrainian air arm” since the start of the hostilities in February 2022. He recounted several successful Russian strikes on Ukrainian airfields in recent months.
Kiev has been asking its foreign backers to supply US-manufactured F-16 jets as it continues to lose Soviet-made military aircraft.
The Ukrainian government claims that the aircraft could turn the tide on the battlefield, where Moscow has virtually unchallenged air superiority at the moment. F-16s could also be used to strike targets deep inside Russia, according to Western officials.
The Ukrainian military expects as many as 60 F-16 fighters to be supplied by a number of European countries. But according to Western media, a limited capacity to train Ukrainian pilots has undermined the effort.
Moscow has warned that the continued arming of Ukraine by the US and its allies cannot change the outcome of the conflict, but may drag Western nations into a direct confrontation with Russia.