At 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. local time on February 27, the Ukrainian Air Force successively issued battle reports and shot down 1 Su-34 front-line bomber each, that is, on February 27, the Ukrainian Air Force shot down 2 Su-34 front-line bombers again. Earlier, the Ukrainian Air Force shot down 10 Russian fighters in 7 days, including 1 A-50U early warning aircraft, 1 Il-22M air command aircraft, and the rest Su-35 fighters, Su-30SM fighters and Su-34 front-line bombers.
The commander of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Mykola Oreshchuk, triumphantly advised the Russian Aerospace Forces on "Telegram" that the Russian Aerospace Forces should at least stop the "airborne carnivorous attacks" for a while because of the huge losses, "which is why I advise the occupiers to meet their families before each flight, just in case, who knows if they are lucky for this take-off".
The recent series of downed incidents of the Russian Aerospace Forces has already had a noticeable impact, and Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Yuriy Ignat revealed that the Russian Aerospace Forces have not used such aircraft again for several days after the A-50U AWACS aircraft was shot down in the area east of the Sea of Azov on February 23.
The A-50U early warning aircraft that was shot down on February 23 is the second early warning aircraft shot down by the Russian Aerospace Forces after the outbreak of a full-scale war, and if the A-50 early warning aircraft hit by a drone at a Belarusian airport at the beginning of last year is not repaired, then this means that after the start of the war, the Russian Aerospace Forces have lost 3 A-50 series early warning aircraft, and the A-50 series early warning aircraft is a valuable and limited asset of the Russian Aerospace Forces.
British intelligence believes that even if the Russian Aerospace Forces only lost 2 A-50 AWACS aircraft and 7 similar aircraft that could operate, but with the crew of those two A-50 AWACS aircraft shot down and completely wiped out, it put more pressure on the remaining A-50 crews and forced them to consider a new area of operation.
The Ukrainian Air Force claimed that when it shot down the A-50U early warning aircraft on February 23, it used the old S-200 air defense system, and the old S-200 air defense system may have been improved, of course, Russian officials insisted that the Russian air defense forces mistakenly hit the A-50U early warning aircraft. Some netizens speculate that Western-aided F-16 fighter jets have entered the field, but so far, there is no evidence to prove this, and the official statements of relevant countries show that F-16 fighter jets will not be delivered to Ukraine until June this year.
However, one thing needs to be clarified, that is, long-range strikes such as "Hippocampus" rocket artillery and "Storm Shadow" cruise missiles** actually appeared on the battlefield in Ukraine earlier than the official announcement time, in order to use the suddenness to inflict a blow on the Russian army. But the problem is that the F-16 fighter is not like the "Hippocampus" rocket launcher or the "Storm Shadow" cruise missile, its operation and launch are extremely complicated, it is not a simple input of a few coordinates can press the launch button, and the Russian side does not have any official information that the F-16 fighter has entered the battle.
Statistics released by "Ukraine Today" show that since the outbreak of the full-scale war, as of now, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have shot down a total of 342 fixed-wing aircraft and 325 of the Russian army*** We cannot confirm the authenticity of the data released by "Ukraine Today", but compared to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the data of "Ukraine Today" seems somewhat conservative.
According to data from the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Russian army has destroyed and damaged 839 aircraft of the Ukrainian army after the start of the war, including fixed-wing aircraft and ***
But the problem is that this data is difficult to convince: before the start of the war, the Ukrainian army only had a total of 250 fixed-wing aircraft and *** Even with the various types of aircraft provided by the West after the war, there were not enough planes for the Russian army to shoot down and damage. We don't know whether the data from the Ukrainian side is flooded, but the data of the Russian Ministry of Defense is too much water to be believed.