Russian forces disabled 90% of Ukrainian military airstrips, says Defense Ministry

MOSCOW – The majority – 90% – of Ukrainian military airstrips that hosted the bulk of military aviation crew has been disabled, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov told journalists Wednesday, TASS reported.

 “Ninety percent of Ukrainian military airstrips that hosted the bulk of combat aviation crew have been eliminated. There are almost no trained first-class and second-class Ukrainian pilots left,” Konashenkov said.

According to the spokesman, Ukrainian Air Forces make only singular sortie attempts.

“At the moment of the special operation, Ukrainian Armed Forces had up to 250 operational combat planes and helicopters. Russian Aerospace Forces destroyed 89 combat planes and 57 helicopters, both on the ground and in the air,” he added.

The spokesman noted that some Ukrainian planes moved to Romania and do not take part in combat action.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that, in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics, he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in Ukraine. The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories. Russian Defense Ministry reassured that Russian troops are not targeting Ukrainian cities, but are limited to surgically striking and incapacitating Ukrainian military infrastructure. There are no threats whatsoever to the civilian population.

Raghda Sawas