Media: At the beginning of the war, the invaders shot down their planes
At the beginning of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian occupation forces shot down several of their aircraft. This is reported by the Financial Times, citing two Western and one Ukrainian officials.
A former high-ranking US official said that this was not about one or two downed Russian aircraft. According to him, this led to the fact that Russia did not have any pilots left with experience of participating in hostilities involving ground forces.
In turn, the deputy head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Vadim Skibitsky, noted that data on downed aircraft confirmed the intercepts of Russian occupiers.
“They shot down their helicopters and shot down their planes,” says Skibitsky.
According to the IISS report, the loss of Russian front-line aviation in the war with Ukraine are estimated at 6-8%. For bombers «Su-24M» and fighters «Su-30SM» losses are higher and amount to 10-15%. The Russian Aerospace Forces also lost a large number of Su-25s and Su-34s.
