Ukrainian pilot says its air force is so outclassed by Russia’s that it can ‘do nothing to them in the air’

• A Ukrainian pilot described his struggle against much more powerful Russian aviation.
• The pilot told The Sunday Times about the limited impact that Ukraine’s outdated gear can have.
• Russia has changed its aviation tactics, which is proving difficult for Ukraine in its offensive. 

A Ukrainian pilot told The Sunday Times that his country’s air force is so outclassed by Russia that it can “do nothing to them in the air.”

The pilot, identified only by his rank of major and his first name Maksym, told the publication on Saturday that his team has been struggling in its missions around Bakhmut against a far better-armed Russia.

He and his fellow airmen fly a Soviet-designed Mil Mi-8 helicopter, a model which entered service in the late 1960s and is far less effective than Russia’s modern helicopter fleet.

On top of outmoded gear, they also have limited ammo. Maksym said his crew flies only one mission a day because they don’t have enough rockets for more attacks. The problem, he said, extends from helicopters to fighter jets, where Ukraine has nothing to counter Russia’s newest models.

“The Russian jets are much better quality than ours,” Maksym told The Times. “It’s like comparing a Mercedes to a Lada.” A Lada is a Soviet-era car from Russia, which had a reputation for being cheap, bulky, and unreliable.

The Russians are flying a large number of advanced combat aircraft, including the Kamov Ka-52 helicopter, he added.

The Ka-52 is mainly designed for fierce battle, while the Mil Mi-8 Maksym has is designed for troop transportation rather than fighting. 

“The Russians understand we can do nothing to them in the air,” said Maksym. He said that half of his unit had been killed.

Maksim’s comments came after reports that Russia has changed the way it uses its aviation assets as Ukraine launches its counter-offensive. 

Senior Ukrainian military officials said recently they were concerned about Russia’s “aviation and artillery superiority.”

Russia has used helicopters to blunt Ukraine’s attempts to advance using armored troop vehicles on land, which, The Financial Times reported. 

A top British air force general, Chief Marshal of British Air Staff Rich Knighton, told a conference in London last week that Russia’s air force “remains largely intact.”

Citing British intelligence, Knighton said that Russia’s air force had retained 96% of its 2,021 fixed-wing aircraft and 90% of its 899 helicopters, with losses of 86 planes and 90 helicopters.

Knighton said neither Russia nor Ukraine had been able to gain air superiority, but that Ukraine was facing “a massive challenge without air superiority and without being able to strike the adversary in the deep.”