"We have seriously shredded them": Svitan says Russia's aviation suffered huge losses

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian occupation army has suffered enormous losses in aviation. It will take about five years to restore them.

This opinion was expressed in an exclusive interview with OBOZ.UA by pilot-instructor, colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in reserve, military expert Roman Svitan. "Russia has not restored any of the positions it had before the large-scale invasion, and it will not restore them in the next 2-3 years. It simply will not have time," he said.

According to the expert, the pace of replenishment of a particular type of weapon depends directly on the rate of its consumption. As for Russian combat aircraft, this rate is low. However, the aggressor country will need at least five years to return to the levels of early 2022, Svitan is convinced.

"They don't spend much on aircraft, they hid them after they realized that we would start destroying them. We've damaged them quite seriously, so it will take them five years to restore the total number of aircraft," he said.

In this context, the expert said that recently the enemy has refused to directly use its aircraft to storm Avdiivka in Donetsk region. "As soon as we have a surface-to-air missile system of a certain range, the Russians track it, draw certain lines and do not go beyond them," he explained. For this reason, the occupation army has switched to the use of precision-guided bombs.

"They have never completely abandoned the use of aviation. For example, a Su-24 wanted to enter Odesa, it was shot down over Zmiine. They will not go there anymore," he summarized.

Read the full version of the interview with Roman Svitan on OBOZ.UA soon.

As OBOZ.UA previously reported, the occupying country Russia has deployed a military base on the Arabat Spit in Crimea. The enemy is keeping helicopters there, which were moved from the Chaplynka airfield located on the mainland of southern Ukraine.