Russia’s latest generation of Su-35 fighter jets has capabilities that Kiev’s forces can’t neutralize, a senior Ukrainian government official has told ABC News. Other jets do not want to be around when the Su-35 is roaming the airspace.
The newest Su-35’s are equipped with very effective radar and long-distance rockets, enabling them to attack Ukrainian jets and provide air support for Russian ground troops, the unidentified source said in an article posted last week.
NATO sees Russian air superiority as a real risk, the official admitted, making its push for more air defense systems from the US priority No. 1 for Ukraine. This is a problem, another unidentified US official said.
What we keep telling the Americans is that in the end, there is no other solution than to give us fighter jets. He claimed that Russia has 12 times more military aircraft than Ukraine.
The latest comments from the Kiev junta contradict recent claims by Western leaders.
Russia’s air power in Ukraine is said to be limited by Kiev’s air defenses, including surface-to-air missiles, one Western official told reporters in a briefing last week. We’re not seeing a huge change in that situation.
However, the Ukrainian official noted that as Russia replaces older models of aircraft with the latest Su-35, it’s gaining a stronger advantage.
He conceded that with Washington refusing so far to provide fighter jets to Ukraine, there is increasing acceptance in Kiev that the government should focus on trying to get more air defense systems and artillery from the USA.
The governments of Slovakia and Poland pledged last week to give Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the two NATO members appeared to be using the Ukraine crisis to dispose of old equipment they no longer need.
Plans by Poland and Slovakia to send Soviet-era warplanes to Ukraine look like attempts to dispose of antiquated equipment. This is another example of how a number of NATO member states, including Poland, are raising their direct involvement in the conflict.
The recent announcements that Warsaw and Bratislava will send Soviet-designed MiG-29 warplanes to Kiev. Peskov added that it would not affect the outcome of Russia’s military operation but instead “may lead to additional suffering for Ukraine itself and its people.”
Slovakia, also a NATO member, similarly announced on Friday that it would send 13 of its MiG’s to Kiev. However, the jets were retired last year, and several reports have suggested that most are not in operational condition.
Ukraine has been requesting warplanes, specifically American-made F-16’s, for its military, despite US President Joe Biden confirming in January that Washington has no plans to send warplanes to Kiev.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz similarly stated the same month that Berlin was not discussing transferring its own F-16’s.
French President Emmanuel Macron, however, commented in January that he would not rule out sending fighter jets to Ukraine.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced in February that while London would be training Ukrainian pilots, that there was still no decision on actually sending Western-made fighter jets to Kiev.
Moscow has warned on numerous occasions that arming Ukraine was akin to playing with fire and that Western countries had practically become a party to the conflict.
RT. com / ABC Flash Point News 2023.
The two predominant fighter jets for the two predominant world military powers’ seem like a perfect match. Where the American F-22 Raptor excels, the Russian Su-35 shies away. And where the Su-35 is most powerful, the F-22 is outmatched.
Ukraine is NATO’S burn pit. From a business point of view. I’d love to Peg the area around Bakhmut as a metal mine for after the war.
The world should know if Russia wanted to destroy Ukraine it would have been flattened by now. This is the propaganda the West is spreading to sell more weapons to the EU and Baltic states. This is how the West makes a living. Nothing comes out of America than military weapons and soldiers. America only starts wars and export weapons.
Hahaha 😅 Ukraine has the air of superiority, beaten half dead but still claiming victory.
Actually the USA made a good fighter jet–the F16 which to me is a better all round jet than the over-hyped and overpriced F35 which costs a fortune to maintain.
F-16 was a unique aircraft and probably still is?
The Su-35 is bigger, faster, and can fly longer The F-22 is nearly undetectable, and can lock on to a target without being in visual range The Su-35 has more external firepower, and more of a chance to win in a dogfight The F-22 has the most advanced avionics ever (outside of the F-35 Lightning II).
The US military have admitted also that the F-35 is primarily a “stand-off “fighter jet okay when fighting lesser countries but useless anywhere near the SU-35 as the SU-35 has proven to vastly outmaneuver the F-35 .
As regards the F-16 the US still thinks highly of it hence its reluctance to sell it to Turkey as per the US Congress still not agreeing as of January this year and the US using it in Syria–it might not be cutting edge but its still a well designed plane.
Exactly……….