Ukrainian Pilot Association head says securing Ukraine’s skies requires 200 aircraft

Hennadii Khazan, president of the Ukrainian Pilots Association, says Ukraine needs at least 200 aircraft to secure its airspace against Russia, according to Radio NV.

Ukrainians should be equipped no worse than Israel, with the capability to deploy 200–250 combat aircraft to ensure exclusively Ukrainian skies, closed to any Russian military aviation, Khazan emphasized.

He emphasized that destroying multiple enemy targets would send a decisive signal to Russia.

"It would make clear that Ukraine’s airspace belongs solely to Ukraine and would prevent the use of weapons like guided bombs (KABs) and other munitions," he explained.

Khazan suggested that Ukraine could enhance its fleet by modernizing its existing Soviet-era aircraft.

"We have several MiG-29s that should be upgraded to the Block 70/72 standard," he noted.

French Aid to Ukraine has reported that Ukrainian pilots have completed training on French Mirage 2000-5F fighter jets. However, the exact number of pilots who passed the course and the aircraft to be delivered to Kyiv remains undisclosed.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military intelligence has revealed that a unit of a Russian An-72 military transport plane blew up at the Ostafyevo airfield in Moscow Oblast.

The An-72 is a Soviet transport aircraft developed by Antonov, Ukraine’s largest aircraft manufacturing company. The plane is used mainly by the military. The Ostafyevo airfield is located over 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from Ukraine’s border.

Read also:

• Russia attacks Kyiv with 8 missiles, causing casualties, fires, damage to civilian infrastructure
• HUR operation destroys Russian truck with drones in Kursk Oblast
• Ukraine’s “Sea Baby” marine drones, armed with heavy-caliber machine guns, damage Russian helicopters near Crimea