Neighboring countries lack the technical and legal capacity to shoot down russian aerial targets over Ukrainian territory, as this would require directly entering Ukrainian airspace. Colonel Yurii Ihnat, the head of the Communications Department of the Ukrainian Air Forces Command, has stated this in an interview with Yanina Sokolova.
He emphasized that striking enemy targets from the territory of other countries is practically impossible due to the limited range of aviation systems.
"To shoot down targets, they would have to fly into our territory, because launching missiles from abroad is impossible. They would have to be in a nearby border area and approach the target," the colonel explained.
According to him, foreign pilots would have to perform the same complex tasks that Ukrainian pilots carry out every day: intercepting a target, approaching from the correct angle, and firing missiles — which effectively amounts to combat operations in Ukrainian airspace.
Yurii Ihnat emphasized that without crossing the state border, “this is impossible,” and the procedure for admitting foreign aircraft into the combat zone is extremely complex. In addition, he noted that such operations require the utmost caution to ensure that debris from downed targets does not harm the civilian population. That is why, during interception, aircraft must avoid densely populated areas, which adds even more technical difficulties to potential assistance from allies.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, meanwhile, Poland intercepted a russian reconnaissance aircraft for the second time in a week.
Last time, on April 8, Polish F-16s intercepted a russian Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft over the Baltic Sea. It was also flying with its transponder turned off. The incident occurred without any violation of Polish airspace.
Who we are: About us, Contacts. How we write news and our principles: Editorial code. We did our best. If you found this valuable – please support us.
To request a correction, please send an email.