Explaining complex things in simple words: Drone attack, F-16 expectations, tragedy in Russian captivity

The Center for Strategic Communication and Information Security pursues efforts to provide a brief explanation to foreign audiences on the current topics of particular interest as regards Ukraine.     

ATTACK OF DRONES

On the night of July 31, the Defence Forces destroyed a swarm attack of 89 enemy drones and a Kh-59 cruise missile.

  • This was one of the most massive attacks by Russian UAVs. The enemy used the same number of drones on New Year's Eve, January 1, 2024.
  • Russia used new types of drones (“Gerbers”), trying to exhaust the defenders of the sky.
  • Our air defence forces have destroyed all enemy missiles and drones, people's lives, property, and infrastructure were saved.
  • This result proves that the Ukrainians can fully protect their skies from Russian strikes when they have sufficient resources to do this.
  • Ukraine needs the same effectiveness of protection against enemy missiles and combat aircraft. This requires more air defence systems and ammunition, and Ukrainian soldiers will do their job. 

F-16 EXPECTATIONS

There are unofficial public comments and confirmation that Ukraine has already received the first batch of F-16 fighter jets.

  • Ukraine has gone through a long and difficult path toward obtaining modern combat aircraft. Another impossible thing turned out to be possible.
  • Thanks to the aviation coalition of partners, it was possible to solve the issues of specific combat units, their weapons, logistics, and infrastructure, and the training of specialists, in particular pilots. 
  • F-16 is the most massive modern combat aircraft in the world. It has a wide range of missile and bomb weapons, good flight characteristics, a good view from the cockpit, as well as relatively simple control and low cost. These aircraft have proven themselves in dozens of wars around the world.
  • F-16 aircraft are capable of seriously influencing the situation on the battlefield: successfully confronting Russian combat aircraft, destroying enemy ground targets and covering the sky of Ukraine.
  • By the end of 2024, Ukraine is expected to have a total of twenty F-16 aircraft. 

TRAGEDY IN RUSSIAN CAPTIVITY

On July 31, Russian sources reported the death of Ukrainian prisoner of war Oleksandr Ishchenko in the Rostov-on-Don pre-trial detention centre. He served as a driver in the Azov regiment and participated in the defence of Mariupol.

  • The death of 55-year-old defender Oleksandr Ishchenko is a verdict on the Russian system of keeping prisoners of war, which disregards the norms of international humanitarian law and has essentially turned into a new Gulag.
  • Together with his comrades from the Azov regiment, Oleksandr Ishchenko was illegally brought before a Russian court with blasphemous accusations, actually for belonging to the Azov and fulfilling his military duty.
  • Contrary to all norms and procedures, no one officially notified the Ukrainian side about the fact of the death of a Ukrainian citizen, its cause, and its circumstances.
  • Unfortunately, this is not the first case of the deaths and dying of Ukrainians in Russian captivity, whose stay is accompanied by torture, unsatisfactory living conditions, failure to provide necessary medical care, etc.
  • We demand intervention from the international community to put pressure on the Russian side so that it observes a parity of treatment towards prisoners of war from Ukraine, on a par with how Ukraine treats Russian prisoners of war.

Center for Strategic Communication and Information Security