Russia is occupying one village after another in eastern Ukraine, slowly but surely advancing, while the West increases the pressure it exerts on Moscow.
On November 22, British military intelligence, in its report on the war in Ukraine, refers to the Russian Aerospace Forces (yesterday and the day before yesterday its reports were on the Russian war fleet and ground forces and the changes they have undergone in the 1,000-plus days of war).
In these 1,000 days, the Aerospace Forces, despite their numerical and technological superiority over the Air Force of the Ukrainian armed forces, were unable to gain air supremacy, British military intelligence points out.
“Air artillery”
Russia has resorted to using its own tactical air force, with Su-34 aircraft, as “air artillery”.
The main factor that changed the nature of the air conflict has been the use of offensive unmanned aerial vehicles (drones). Their use gives Russia time to restore its long-range aviation capabilities and replenish its stockpiles of cruise and ballistic missiles.
For Ukraine’s air defense, the situation is becoming increasingly complex and tense.
Russia, combining drones and long-range aviation, is carrying out continuous attacks on critical Ukrainian infrastructure and air bases.
During the winter, British intelligence expects this tactic to continue, as “Russia tries to bend the will of the Ukrainian people.”
Ukraine is also successfully using offensive drones.
In mid- and late September, it hit four strategically important ammunition depots hundreds of kilometers from Ukrainian territory, causing “the largest loss of Russian and North Korean-made ammunition” during the war, British military intelligence writes, without its usual reservations.
This also suggests that the Russian air defense system was unable to protect strategically important military facilities from Ukrainian drones.
