Russian planes down at start of full-scale invasion were Russia's best – Air Force

Russian aviation suffered significant losses at the very beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine because they believed that "walking in the sky" would be easy for them.

Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat announced this on the air of the telethon.

"I want to note that the Russian planes that were shot down in the first weeks of the war were among the best. These are Su-34s, Su-30s, Su-35s, and how many helicopters there are. These are quite powerful numbers. Russian aviation suffered losses right from the beginning. When they underestimated our aviation, when they believed their propaganda, that everything here has already been destroyed, that a walk in the sky will be easy for them," he said.

Ignat said the "imbalance" was one to six if we took the entire aviation group.

"This was the advantage of the Russians. And if you add the technologies that have been invested in Russian aircraft. That is, the modernization of the Su-27 into the Su-30, then the Su-34 aircraft appeared, the Su-35... Then here you can 1 to 10 to count if we also consider technical capabilities," added the spokesman of the Air Force.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, since September 2022, after the start of massive Russian attacks on critical infrastructure, Ukraine's air defense forces shot down up to 700 rockets of the occupiers.

The Air Force also explained what types of missiles Ukrainian air defense cannot shoot down.