However, Ukraine also has an air force and guided aerial bombs with a range and accuracy no less than the Russian KAB. The first videos of Ukrainian fighter jets dropping American-made Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) hovering bombs on targets in Kursk appeared online on Tuesday.
A Ukrainian fighter jet reportedly hit a Russian command post a few kilometers north of the Kursk front line. It should be noted that the raid was carried out by a Sukhoi Su-27 fighter, and not one of the Danish F-16s recently acquired by Ukraine.
Although the F-16s are compatible with JDAM bombs, there is evidence that the Ukrainian Air Force plans to use these fighters only for airspace protection and not for riskier ground attacks, at least initially.
The risk to aircraft around the Kursk region is high. Ukraine’s military has deployed what one Russian blogger described as “a large number” of air defense batteries and electronic jamming systems capable of jamming radio signals and, in some cases, even disabling GPS-guided bombs.
Ukrainian units shot down several Russian helicopters. In response, Russian artillery damaged one of the Ukrainian Buk anti-aircraft defense systems.
Russian anti-aircraft defenses around Kursk are also significant. It is not for nothing that one Ukrainian Su-27, having dropped flying bombs, was seen flying just a few hundred meters above the battlefield. Pilots on both sides fly as low as possible to avoid being detected by enemy radars.
Although both sides have deployed warplanes over the border invasion zone, it is possible that the Russians have deployed more. There is evidence that Russian bombing raids are targeting both Ukrainian troops in Kursk and their bases in Suma.
The only confirmed Ukrainian bombing target is the already mentioned Russian command post a few kilometers north of the Kursk front line. This means that it is not clear whether the Ukrainians have extended their air force directly above the front line.
That would make sense. Despite increased Ukrainian drone and missile strikes on Russian air bases in and around Kursk, the Russians still have more planes and bombs. Those 85 F-16s promised by European allies Ukraine are arriving slowly and in small numbers.
Ukraine’s air force may only have about 100 warplanes after losing several in Russian attacks on Ukrainian military airports this summer.
“The invasion will challenge the already depleted Ukrainian armed forces,” explained Hans Petter Midtun of the Center for Defense Strategies (CDS).
The roughly 300 jets deployed by the Kremlin for its air war against Ukraine can drop up to 100 hover bombs a day; the smaller Ukrainian Air Force is likely to drop only a fraction of that number.
It is worth noting that around the same time that Su-27s bombed Russian positions in Kursk, other Ukrainian jets, according to CDS, bombed three Russian-controlled cities in the Kharkiv region about 150 km east of Kursk region.
Yet surprisingly, despite a severe lack of planes, bombs, and other heavy weaponry, Ukraine has not only invaded Russia—the invasion continues.
“We are on the offensive,” said an unnamed Ukrainian official. “The goal is to withdraw the enemy’s positions, cause as many losses as possible and destabilize the situation in Russia due to its inability to protect its border.”
The Russians are not only vulnerable in the Kursk area, they are also vulnerable in the air – the week-long invasion of the region will be joined by Ukrainian fighter jets.
Adapted from Forbes.
2024-08-15 02:54:03