Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-23 and Invasion

[Barrister]

According to this article the Ukrainians have received additional fighter jets from an unknown source (kurwa). 

Kyiv's air force has "more operable fighter aircraft than they had two weeks ago," Kirby told reporters Tuesday.

Donations of airplanes, and airplane parts, made it possible. "I would just say, without getting into what other nations are providing, that they have received additional platforms and parts to be able to increase their fleet size," Kirby said.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2022/04/19/the-ukrainian-air-force-just-got-bigger-it-seems-someone-gave-kyiv-more-mig-29s/?sh=7ef93d353c8b

I read they are former Moldovan Mid-29s.  Moldova was going to sell them to Iran but the US bought them instead a number of years ago.  They're not flyable at present but can be cannibalized for parts to fix existing Ukrainian MiGs, or to get some of them into flyable shape.

[PJL]

I wonder if there are other places with the old Soviet era planes that the the US/others could buy on the quiet and ship them bit by bit to Ukraine? Iraq? Pakistan?

[Josquius]

What has the Ukranian air force been up to?

I've seen bits about raids into Russia then the ghost of Kiev legend which seems untrue. Are they actually challenging the Russians? Any insight on their probable tactics?

[Barrister]

I wonder if there are other places with the old Soviet era planes that the the US/others could buy on the quiet and ship them bit by bit to Ukraine? Iraq? Pakistan?

Pakistan is a long-term US ally that flies US jets.

Pretty sure any Iraqi soviet-era jets were destroyed in one of the two US invasions.


But really though these old Soviet-era jets are better than nothing, but pretty limited.  The Russian jets may also be old but they're mostly updated with more modern avionics.  Something like those Moldovan MiGs have been sitting for 25 years.

[Barrister]

What has the Ukranian air force been up to?

I've seen bits about raids into Russia then the ghost of Kiev legend which seems untrue. Are they actually challenging the Russians? Any insight on their probable tactics?

Ignore Ghost of Kyiv stories.

They do continue to fly.  They're hampered by less than great radars (and the presence of Russian SAMs), so they fly very, very low to the ground.  If they detect Russian jets in the air they will challenge them where possible.

The only strikes into Russia I've seen reported have been two strikes against Russian fuel depots in Belgorod.  These have been helicopter attacks, again done very, very low to the ground.  The Ukrainians seems to be getting good at those - they've also been able to partially supply Mariupol by helicopters as well.

[celedhring]

I wonder if there are other places with the old Soviet era planes that the the US/others could buy on the quiet and ship them bit by bit to Ukraine? Iraq? Pakistan?

Pakistan is a long-term US ally that flies US jets.

Pretty sure any Iraqi soviet-era jets were destroyed in one of the two US invasions.


But really though these old Soviet-era jets are better than nothing, but pretty limited.  The Russian jets may also be old but they're mostly updated with more modern avionics.  Something like those Moldovan MiGs have been sitting for 25 years.

I've read rumors that Romania might give Ukraine Mig-21s. Those might kill more Ukranians than Russia's own jets...

[Barrister]

I've read rumors that Romania might give Ukraine Mig-21s. Those might kill more Ukranians than Russia's own jets...

That to me seems more like Romania trying to get "something" for its MiG-21s that nobody wants.

The whole point of sending MiG-29s is that the Ukrainian Air Force pilots know how to fly them, mechanics know how to fix them, and they have supplies of spare parts.  The UAF no longer flies MiG-21s, so those advantages no longer exist.  Combine with the fact the airplane design itself goes back to the 1960s, and whatever updates the Romanians gave to their planes still go back to the 1990s I can't see this as being a useful addition to the UAF.

[Berkut]

You know what was one of the greatest fighter planes of all time?

The P-51 Mustang. I think we should see if we can give some of them to Ukraine.

Maybe some B-17s while we are at it.

[Barrister]

You know what was one of the greatest fighter planes of all time?

The P-51 Mustang. I think we should see if we can give some of them to Ukraine.

Maybe some B-17s while we are at it.

All joking aside some P-51 might almost be useful.

Not for aerial combat, heavens no.  But in a low-level ground attack function it could have its uses.

Mind you that's also the role of the Bayraktars and other drones, so probably not worth digging up any P-51s.

[The Brain]

Swedish mercenaries in sport planes made up the air force of Biafra back in the day, quite successfully.

[Sheilbh]

Incidentally on the lack of transparency (understandably) on arms transfers to Ukraine, Le Canard Enchaine (so take with a pinch of salt) says that France is sending artillery, armoured vehicles, anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles (similar to the UK as you'd expect). Officially they've only sent €100 million and "whatever they need", but that last bit has not been stated officially.

Edit: Also, interesting:

Maria Snegovaya
@MSnegovaya
Big news from Russia today is that China's payment system UnionPay which was widely advertised in Russia as an alternative to Visa/Mastercard, has refused to cooperate with Russia's largest bank Sberbank our of fear of being sanctioned by the West.

UnionPay is also state-owned, which is striking.

[Jacob]

Igor Girkin (Russian nationalist, former minister in "Donetsk Peoples Republic) is pessimistic about the current Russian offensive.

[celedhring]

He's been singing the "We need to mobilize or we're DOOMED" tune for weeks now. For once, I hope that piece of junk is right.

Gotta love the insistence on writing "so-called ukraine".

[Jacob]

I wonder what the conditions to trigger a general Russian mobilization are... and what the repercussions would be.

[Josquius]

Donetsk has been scoured of its young men, sent to be cannon fodder apparently.
One interesting thing about this war that I haven't seen addressed is Russia is, in addition to its Ukranian genocife, very effectively also genociding the heavily pro Russian areas of the country and changing Ukraines demographics to be pro Western as much as 2014.