The Ministry of Defense of Russia really decided to massively involve aviation in Ukraine. A source in the Ministry of Defense informed the Russian publication "Vazhnye istorii" ["Important Stories"] about this.
According to this source, Russia still has "an indisputable advantage in aviation over the Ukrainian Armed Forces."
"Earlier, it [aviation] was protected, it almost did not fly into the zone of action of Ukrainian air defense. Now they have decided to change tactics," says an interlocutor in the Russian Ministry of Defense. He believes that planes and helicopters "will be shot down en masse", "but the Armed Forces of Ukraine will still have problems."
- On February 14, 2023, The Financial Times citing representatives of Western intelligence, wrote that the Russian ground forces are exhausted, so the Russian Federation can bet on aviation.
- On February 16, British intelligence said that it considered an extended Russian air campaign against Ukraine unlikely. The British estimated that the Russian Air Force had approximately 1 500 manned military aircraft and had lost over 130 aircraft since the start of the full-scale invasion. Of the 1 500 aircraft, not all are operational. In every army of the world, it is stipulated that 30% of the aircraft fleet are planes that undergo routine maintenance or are under repair.