The successful attacks with Ukrainian drones deep inside Russian territory show a significant degradation of Russia's air defense system. George Barros, an expert on Russia at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW), expressed confidence in this to Business Insider.
According to him, the UAVs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (UAF) have begun to penetrate into places where, in theory, they should not have been allowed. "Russian air defense should have destroyed them very easily,", he stressed.
The expert recalled that at the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the Russian air defense was a serious opponent for the Ukrainian aviation. The Russians shot down Ukrainian planes and missiles, largely cutting off Kiev's military access to their neighbor's airspace.
But over time, Russia's air defenses became "stretched", giving Ukraine new opportunities. According to Baros, Russia has "neglected the protection of territories" that are not immediately adjacent to the border with Ukraine. Then, starting in the spring of 2024, Ukraine was able to take Russia's air defenses out of the game "very deliberately”.
Many Russian air defense systems were damaged and destroyed by Ukraine, and the ASU is now attacking targets that were previously beyond their range. The expert notes that at the moment the main problem for Ukraine is to break through the border areas of the Russian Federation, which are saturated with air defense, and beyond them the country's territory is "not well protected”.
As a clear proof of this, Baros calls the April attack on Tatarstan, which is located more than 1,200 kilometers from Ukraine. The small plane, converted by the Ukrainians into a kamikaze drone, was able to travel the huge distance unhindered.
"This incident was very telling and showed that the Russians probably positioned their air defenses in such a way that they had good coverage in the immediate theater of operations around Ukraine. But apart from that, they don't have one,”, Baros claims.
According to ISW, the Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries "continue to put pressure on Russia's air defense umbrella and force Russian military commanders to prioritize the allocation of limited defense assets to cover what they consider to be high-value targets” .
Russian air defense is not worth the money! Ukrainian drones fly freely behind enemy lines
Many Russian air defense systems were damaged and destroyed by the Ukrainian army and now the Air Force is attacking targets that were previously out of range
Aug 2, 2024 21:50 240
