F-16 fighter jets performed well in repelling Russian attack, - Ihnat
The F-16 fighter jets performed well in repelling a massive Russian air attack on the night of May 24.
Yurii Ihnat, head of the Communications Department of the Ukrainian Air Force, spoke about this on television, according to "Ukrinform," as reported by Censor.NET.
The operation of F-16 aircraft
"Today we are seeing (used by the Russians during a massive attack, – ed.) 90 missiles. How can we stop them with the limited resources we have today? And it’s not so much the resources themselves as the missiles targeting them, because that is extremely important. So, in addition to what we managed to intercept, we shot down missiles at various stages of flight, and as soon as they entered the area, F-16s were deployed. Again, they performed very well, but you can’t stop everything," said Ihnat.
We need more missiles for the Patriot system
At the same time, he emphasized the need to increase the number of PAC-3 missiles for the Patriot systems, noting that only such missiles are capable of shooting down ballistic missiles.
"There are a lot of ballistic missiles out there today: three dozen Iskander-M or S-400 systems, as well as Zircons and Kinzhals—all of these can be intercepted by the Patriot system and the missiles designed for that purpose, namely the PAC-3. The issue of the Patriot systems and their missiles has been raised repeatedly on the air, and government officials are talking about it," Ihnat added.
What happened before?
- Earlier reports indicated that Russia had launched a massive strike on Kyiv: one person was killed, more than 20 were injured, and there is significant damage in eight districts.
- According to the latest reports, two people have been killed in Kyiv, and more than 70 have been injured. Three people are in critical condition.
- The Lukianivska metro station is closed following heavy shelling by Russian forces: damage has been reported.
- The enemy also launched a massive attack on the Kyiv region using missiles and drones: there are casualties and damage across all districts.
- According to Ihnat, the enemy struck Bila Tserkva with "Oreshnik" missiles.
- It later emerged that two people were killed in the Kyiv region as a result of the Russian attack, and that an infant was among the wounded.
- In addition, Russian forces attacked the Kirovohrad region, damaging homes.
- In Cherkasy, a high-rise building was damaged, leaving 11 people injured.
