Hits to Russian aircraft so severe 'they will struggle to regain control of skies'

Warning: Volodymyr Zelensky fears more attacks on energy plants

- Tom Davidson

RUSSIAN aircraft losses in the Ukraine invasion are so major they will struggle to gain control of the sky as the war drags on, the British Ministry of Defence said today.

Planes are being shot down and lost quicker than they can be replaced, UK officials believe.

Ministry of Defence officials said Russia’s lack of air superiority in the war was due to “poor training” and “loss of experienced crews”.

It comes after Ukraine’s commander-in-chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi claimed Russia had lost more than twice the number of aircraft in Ukraine than in the whole of the Soviet-Afghan War of the 1980s. This would amount to 278 aircraft lost in Ukraine compared with 119 in Afghanistan.