“We are ready to be killed,” said Josh, who only gave his badge for security reasons. “But we do not want that of course,” the 29-year-old added. “We want to kill Russians and bring down their bombers that are killing our cities and our families.” Juice is one of the pilots helping Ukraine make the biggest surprise of this war: Its military has maintained airspace over Ukraine despite Russia’s most advanced aircraft and superior numbers. But he and other pilots say that is not enough. While Kiev’s forces may be performing even better than Moscow on the ground, Russia has continued to inflict heavy losses on Ukraine from the skies. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on the United States and other NATO allies to establish a no-fly zone over the country – a move that military leaders have refused to take, citing fears of a world war. Moscow. Zelensky is now pushing for more advanced air defense systems and jets. But Juice and others said the weapons the countries have been discussing transferring to Ukraine — particularly Russian-made MiG-29 fighter jets and US-made Stinger anti-aircraft missiles — would not help the Kiev Air Force turn the tide in its favor. The gap between the weapons that Ukraine wants and those that Western countries are willing to offer has become a major one almost two months after the battle. Nowhere is this division more apparent than in the proposed air transport. Juice fly MiG-29, which are a key element of the Soviet-era Ukrainian Air Force. However, he said Ukrainian pilots were “simple targets” for Russian adversaries flying much more advanced aircraft. Acquiring more obsolete MiGs will not improve Ukraine’s position in the skies, he said. “We have casualties almost every day in our Air Force,” he added. “You will not see this on TV because everything is sorted out right now, but we actually have a lot of losses. That is why we must be technically equal to the Russians. “Our mental advantage alone is not enough to fight these technologies.” Latest updates from the Ukraine war Poland last month offered to send a number of MiG-29 aircraft to Ukraine via a US air base in Germany, blinding US officials. In return, Poland asked the United States to send it replacement aircraft, possibly newer US-made F-16s, which would be a major upgrade. Washington rejected the plan. Then on Monday, Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger told reporters that Slovakia would consider supplying MiG-29 fighters to Ukraine if alternative protection of its airspace could be arranged. But for Ukrainian pilots, more MiG-29 is not the answer. The jets offered by Poland to transport them are even larger – some dating to the late 1980s – from their current stock. “I think the Ukrainians are right – you are essentially a target in the air if you do not have any of these modern capabilities,” said Herbert “Hawk” Carlisle, a retired U.S. Air Force general. “It’s not just a plane up there. “You have to have all this sophisticated equipment to really make it a viable aviation platform.” The countries have proposed sending the MiG-29 to the Ukrainians largely because that is why the country’s pilots already know how to fly. If they were receiving F-16s, Carlisle said, it was not just pilots who would have to learn a flight system he described as “significantly different” from Soviet-style aircraft. Ground personnel should be trained on how to maintain the aircraft and load it with compatible ammunition. But Juice and another Ukrainian pilot, whose nickname is “Nomad”, said the learning curve is not as important as it often seems. Nomad, who is in the United States as part of a training program, said it would probably take Ukrainians about two weeks to learn the nuances of US F-Series aircraft. Many of the pilots already speak English and have participated in joint exercises with the US Air Force, so they are familiar with the terminology of these aircraft systems, they said. The Mykolaiv region is on the edge amid fears of a new Russian attack The pilots were also critical of the effectiveness of the Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, which are part of US aid packages. Nomad said it was “almost impossible” to hit a flexible, fast-moving Russian jet with missiles. Carlisle agreed, adding that the Stingers were not designed to shoot down fighters – they were intended for use against helicopters and other slow-moving low-flying aircraft. If Western countries are reluctant to provide Ukraine with state-of-the-art aircraft on which its pilots have not been trained, Joyce said they should at least consider sending more advanced air defense systems. He said it is much easier to learn how to handle. Military analysts expected Russia to destroy Ukraine’s air defense systems, airports and aircraft on the very first day of the war, when Moscow still had the element of surprise. However, Rob Lee, a Russian military expert and senior fellow at the Institute for Foreign Policy Research, said Russia “did not really go for a fatal strike” and in some cases, its missiles hit the airport but lost the runway. Ukrainian pilots were able to improvise from there. Juice said that the fight in the sky is not fair when faced with a more modern Russian jet. Often he just has to completely avoid his opponent in order to stay alive. Sometimes he and his fellow pilots manage to trick the Russians into flying to an area where the Ukrainians are ready and waiting for an air defense system. Analysts on the Oryx Blog, which monitors Russian military casualties, documented 20 aircraft and 30 helicopters that were destroyed or damaged in Ukraine. “We’re just trying to do something unusual, and sometimes it’s successful and sometimes it’s not,” Juice said. “Sometimes they are just idiots and the Russians are just showing their incompetence and underestimating our education. “But in general, we can not achieve real air superiority, unfortunately.”
