On Wednesday, January 4, a large-scale air alert was announced in Ukraine. This is due to the fact that Russian aviation has become more active in Belarus.
Colonel of the reserve of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, military expert and pilot-instructor Roman Svitan told Channel 24 about this. In particular, the Russian MiG-31K fighter, which is the carrier of the Kinzhal missiles, took off into the air.
According to the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, this aircraft poses a great danger, because Ukraine does not have the means to counter such weapons.
How the Russian A-50 aircraft works
Together with the MiG-31K fighter, the Russian AWACS A-50U also took off. As Swithan explained, this is an airborne early warning and control aircraft. The military expert noted that a large “dish” is located above this aircraft, and there is a coordinate detection system on board.
Roman Svitan
Colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, military expert and flight instructor
The A-50 aircraft “sees” to a depth of 600 kilometers from the point at which it is located. It can “view” virtually a third of our country's territory from the North, including Kyiv and the entire so-called “Warsaw Way”. That is, this plane perfectly “sees” everything that comes from Poland in our direction.
As Swithan noted, a gunner is usually paired with one or more aircraft that train to identify targets and deliver certain types of strikes.
- This may be the MiG-31K, which is the carrier of the Kinzhal missiles. The military expert noted that Ukraine is closely monitoring aircraft of this type, as they pose a great threat.
- Also, the reconnaissance aircraft can be accompanied by several more fighters, which can carry Kh-59 missiles or Kh-31P anti-radar missiles.
Why do the Russians lift the A-50 into the air
The instructor pilot recalled that the Russian A-50 aircraft was actively working before the New Year.
“Before the holiday, the ship flew to a base in Russia, most likely to celebrate the New Year with the family. And after the New Year, the plane returned to the Machulishchi airfield again. On January 4, the Russians had already begun combat work,” Svitan said.
The military expert noted that the Russian reconnaissance aircraft is doing work to identify certain targets. In particular, the Russians are trying to find the places where the means of Ukrainian air defense are based.
The enemy is trying to identify our air defense system and to some extent prepare for launches, that is, for a certain combat defeat on the part of Belarus, Svitan noted.
When the enemy can inflict new massive strikes on Ukraine
He added that usually after the activity of the A-50, the Russian invaders massively attack Ukraine with missiles. Now the Russians are preparing for a new rocket attack on Ukraine.
Roman Svitan
Colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, military expert and flight instructor
The Russians are preparing for another attack. After the last attack (December 31 – Channel 24), at least a week must pass. This week is already ending. In principle, approximately on January 5-6, one can already expect an attack on ground targets on the territory of Ukraine.
The instructor pilot added that now the Russian A-50 aircraft can perform several purposes:
- conduct additional exploration;
- carry out reconnaissance on those targets that Russian missiles hit or, conversely, did not hit for certain reasons.
Next, according to Svitan, is the processing of the received data and target designation for the next attack.
The threat of a new massive missile attack: the main thing
- On New Year's Eve, the occupiers once again stage a massive missile attack against Ukraine. The Russians attacked several cities at once.
- Currently, there are only 3 ships of the aggressor country in the Black Sea, but there is not a single launch vehicle among them. The Armed Forces of Ukraine assume that Russia took the missile carriers in order to prepare an attack for Christmas.
- Oleksandr Kovalenko, a military-political observer for the Information Resistance group, suggests that the next massive strike on the territory of Ukraine can be carried out no earlier than January 10th. According to the expert, then the invaders will launch 70-80 or more missiles.
- At the same time, as Kovalenko noted, at Christmas the Russians may try to send us a “greeting” with limited potential, namely 50-60 missiles.
