ISW: Ukrainian Armed Forces destroy Russian air defence systems before the arrival of the F-16

ISW: Ukrainian Armed Forces destroy Russian air defence systems before the arrival of the F-16

In the border regions of the Russian Federation and in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, there are fewer and fewer Russian air defence systems and radar stations. The Ukrainian Air Force is doing everything to create conditions for the deployment of F-16 fighters after their expected arrival in Ukraine in the summer-autumn of 2024. This is reported in a new report from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi reported on July 16 that Ukrainian forces had struck S-300 positions in the occupied Donetsk region, and also reported that Ukrainian forces had destroyed a total of 20 S-300 launchers and 15 radar stations over an unspecified period time.

Syrskyi published geolocation footage showing Ukrainian forces using cluster munitions to strike Russian air defense systems located east of occupied Mangush in the Donetsk region (west of Mariupol).

At the same time, the founder of the KRAKEN unit of the Defence Ministry’s Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU), Kostyantyn Nemichev, said on 12 July that Ukrainian forces had destroyed four Russian S-300 systems that Russian troops had used to attack Kharkiv for an indefinite period of time.

“The commander of the Russian S-300 most likely died during the Ukrainian strike on occupied Mariupol, since the time of death of the commander was 15 minutes after the strike on the Russian S-300 air defence system near Mariupol on July 12. At the same time, ISW found no signs of the Ukrainian attack on Russian air defence systems in the Belgorod region on July 12 and cannot confirm the exact location of this attack,” the report says.

ISW also noted that the Council of Deputies of the Krasninsky rural settlement of the Volgograd region of the Russian Federation reported the liquidation of the commander of the Russian S-300 battery as a result of a strike by Ukrainian air defense systems on a position in the Kharkov direction at 13:00 local time on July 12.

The same Council of Deputies reported that the commander of the S-300 battery, liquidated on July 12, reported in a recent letter that over the past two weeks, Ukrainian Armed Forces’ strikes on Russian air defense systems killed two Russian air defense battery commanders. ISW suggests that a period of June to early July 2024 is implied.

The Institute for the Study of War recalled Syrskyi’s words that Ukrainian forces are systematically destroying Russian air defense systems to create conditions for the successful use of strike aircraft by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the context of the expected arrival of F-16 fighters in the near future.

“Delivery of F-16s to Ukraine will likely begin in small quantities, and limitations on materiel and training will likely prevent Ukrainian forces from using fixed-wing aircraft on a large scale in 2024,” ISW recalled. Official Kyiv noted that they intend to use the F-16 as part of Ukraine’s broader air defense system.