DISINFO: The Russian Army has already destroyed the Ukrainian Air Force

DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS

AI translations:

DISINFO: The Russian Army has already destroyed the Ukrainian Air Force

SUMMARY

Russia's cutting edge air defence systems have completely destroyed Ukraine's air fleet. Ukrainian planes are shot down as soon as they take off. The Ukrainian Air Force has been blown to bits.

RESPONSE

The claim is part of an ongoing pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign concerning Russia’s illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

According to FlightGlobal's directory of world air forces, the Ukrainian Air Force comprised a total of 207 airplanes and helicopters as of February 2022, including training and transport aircraft. This number does not include aircraft supplied by Ukraine's allies.

Based on the information available from open sources, the Dutch-based war-tracking project Oryx Spioenkop has estimated that Ukraine has lost 77 aircraft of all types since the launch of Russia's full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022. Or in other words, just over a third of its pre-invasion fleet.

See here, here, and here for similar cases of pro-Kremlin outlets citing logically impossible numbers of Ukraine's war losses.

Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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