According to officials in Moscow, the Russian army has practically left Ukraine's military aviation and air defence forces without command, rendering more than 90 % of their defence systems useless

Russia claims to have destroyed almost all Ukrainian air defence systems

photo_camera AP/EVGENY MALOLETKA - Air defense base after an apparent Russian attack in Mariupol, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. Russian troops have launched their pre-emptive strike against Ukraine. Large explosions were heard before dawn in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odessa

Russian forces have destroyed almost all of Ukraine's anti-aircraft defence systems since their invasion on 24 February under the pretext of protecting the pro-Russian separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, the Russian Defence Ministry said today.

"In the course of the operation a total of 2,786 Ukrainian military infrastructure facilities were destroyed. (...) As of today, 90 % of the military airfields on which the bulk of military aviation was based have been disabled," Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said, according to Russian agencies.

In addition, Russian troops have disabled more than 90 % of long- and medium-range air defence systems, as well as 81 enemy air force radiolocation posts, so that Ukraine "has practically lost military command of military aviation and air defence".

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He pointed out that before the "special military operation", as Russia calls its offensive in Ukraine, Ukraine had "up to 250 warplanes and helicopters", but that the Russian army has already destroyed 89 planes and 57 helicopters, bearing in mind that even before the invasion part of the Ukrainian military air force had taken refuge in Romania and was not taking part in the fighting.

He added that the Ukrainian army has "practically no first- and second-class pilots left" and that there are currently "few" attempts to fly Ukrainian warplanes.

According to Konashenkov, in the absence of its own data, the Ukrainian military is trying to obtain information on the air situation from the AWACS-NATO E-A3 command centre in the Ukrainian city of Vinnitsa, which patrols the skies over neighbouring Poland 24 hours a day.

He also reported that in the course of the war operation against the neighbouring country, the Russian army also destroyed 953 Ukrainian tanks and armoured vehicles, 101 multiple jet missile launching systems, 351 guns and mortars, 93 drones and 718 trucks and other military vehicles

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