Zabrodskyi: Ukraine should primarily hit airfields with Russian strike aircraft

Lieutenant General Mykhailo Zabrodskyi, First Deputy Chairman of the National Security, Defense and Intelligence Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, noted this in his article “Patriotic war. The Rivalry is in the Air” for Ukrinform.

“The aerial ‘sword’ should be combined strikes against the stationary targets of the enemy, first against the airfields of the base of the Russian strike aircraft and the areas of the launch positions of ballistic and cruise missiles. This will enable the Air Force and the Armed Forces of Ukraine as a whole to move from repelling airstrikes to retaliatory strikes, as well as preventive targeted strikes,” Zabrodskyi stressed.

He added that based on the actual and probable placement of this type of targets, there is an urgent need for means of destruction capable of hitting targets of the specified type in the territory controlled by the enemy at least to a depth of 150-250 km.

In his opinion, at least two ways of solving this issue are considered now. The first should be the expansion of the capabilities of strike aviation due to the use of more advanced models of aviation and missile weapons. The second is to increase the range of the M-142 HIMARS complexes equipped with ATACMS missiles.

Successful combined strikes at a limited depth have already entered the practice of combat work of the Air Force and missile units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Currently, they are limited only to the technical characteristics of certain types of weapons. The possibility to reach the airfields of the base of strike aircraft and the areas of the starting positions of the enemy's ground-based cruise missiles remains ideal. This ability to "equalize the range" immediately transforms the air war for the Russians and their satellite from an exciting adventure with combat launches into a deadly drudgery, Zabrodskyi notes in the article.

As reported, on December 5, explosions rocked Russian military airfields in Saratov region and near Ryazan, resulting in damage to aircraft. A gas tanker exploded at the airfield near Ryazan. Three people were killed and six more were injured in the incident.

On December 8, at least nine planes disappeared from the Dyagilevo air base near Ryazan after the attack and were redeployed to other airfields. Yuriy Ihnat, the Spokesperson for the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said that the Air Force of the Russian Federation redeployed strategic aviation inland after the explosions at military airfields.

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