Europe

Ukrainian fighter pilots in old jets take on better-equipped Russians

By Isabelle Khurshudyan
Today at 2:00 a.m. EDT

ODESSA, Ukraine — The fighter pilot known as “Juice” usually just has a few minutes to scramble. When he is on-call, which is pretty much always these days, he cannot be more than a bathroom break away from his cockpit. When a cruise missile or a Russian fighter is spotted moving toward the area Juice is assigned to by the Ukrainian air force, he doesn’t even have time to run through standard safety checks before taking off.

“We’re ready to be killed,” said Juice, who provided only his call sign for security reasons. ... “But we don’t want this, of course,” the 29-year-old added. “We want to kill Russians and take down their bombers that are killing our cities and our families.” ... Juice is one of the pilots helping Ukraine pull off the biggest surprise of this war: Its military has kept the airspace over Ukraine contested despite Russia’s more advanced jets and superior numbers. But he and other pilots say that’s not enough. While Kyiv’s forces have perhaps even outperformed Moscow’s on the ground, Russia has continued to inflict heavy losses on Ukraine from the sky.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has appealed to the United States and other NATO allies to establish a no-fly zone over the country — a step that leaders in the military alliance refused to take, citing fears of touching off a world war with Moscow. Now Zelensky is pushing for more advanced air-defense systems and jets. ... But Juice and others have said the weapons that countries have discussed transferring to Ukraine — particularly Russian-made MiG-29 fighters and U.S.-made Stinger antiaircraft missiles — won’t help Kyiv’s air force tip the scales in its favor. The gap between the weapons Ukraine wants and what Western countries are willing to supply has become a key tension nearly two months into the fighting.

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Analysts at the Oryx Blog, which tracks Russian military losses, documented 20 aircraft and 30 helicopters destroyed or damaged in Ukraine.

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https://wapo.st/37H7LaF

By Isabelle Khurshudyan
Isabelle Khurshudyan is a foreign correspondent based in Moscow. A University of South Carolina graduate, she has worked at The Washington Post since 2014, previously as a sports reporter covering the Washington Capitals, high school sports and local colleges. Twitter https://twitter.com/ikhurshudyan

Attack On Europe: Documenting Equipment Losses During The 2022 Russian Invasion Of Ukraine

Oryx Thursday, February 24, 2022 Bayraktar TB2 , DNR

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