{"id":21548,"date":"2024-07-02T07:27:46","date_gmt":"2024-07-02T07:27:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/?p=21548"},"modified":"2024-07-02T07:27:46","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T07:27:46","slug":"ukrainian-air-base-under-frequent-fire-as-russia-aims-at-f-16-arrivals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/2024\/07\/ukrainian-air-base-under-frequent-fire-as-russia-aims-at-f-16-arrivals\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukrainian air base under frequent fire as Russia aims at F-16 arrivals"},"content":{"rendered":"

MONITORING (SW) – Explosions reverberated across the pre-dawn sky as Ukrainian air defences fended off a Russian attack on this small city in western Ukraine, home to an important air base and a frequent target of Moscow’s strikes.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hours after the assault, the tidy streets of Starokostiantyniv had returned to a semblance of normality.<\/p>\n

But the June 27 attack was a stark reminder of the challenges Kyiv faces as it rebuilds its depleted air force and deploys the first U.S.-designed F-16s – fighter aircraft that Russia will be determined to ground or destroy.<\/p>\n

The first planes are expected to arrive this month, and Ukraine hopes they will boost forces struggling to repel a Russian onslaught along the front line, which includes devastating glide bombs that F-16s could potentially disrupt.<\/p>\n

Officials have not revealed where the F-16s will be based, but Moscow said after the strike on Starokostiantyniv last Thursday that it had targeted airfields it believed would house them.<\/p>\n

The air base has come under frequent attack since the first days of Russia’s February 2022 invasion, including from drones and hypersonic missiles.<\/p>\n

Residents of this historic military outpost of around 30,000 people, nicknamed Starkon, in Ukraine’s Khmelnytskyi region have learned to adjust to the constant danger.<\/p>\n

“In short, it’s ‘fun’ to live here,” said city official and local culture expert Vasyl Muliar with a wry smile, speaking after the recent attack.<\/p>\n

A Ukrainian air force spokesman said the strikes presented “certain difficulties”, but would not undermine the delivery of F-16s or their use in battle.<\/p>\n

Separately on Tuesday, Russia’s defence ministry said it had destroyed five Ukrainian SU-27 fighter jets at Myrhorod airfield in Poltava region. Ukraine said the claim was exaggerated.<\/p>\n

Military analysts said the Russians were probably targeting air base infrastructure such as runways and storage facilities to make getting F-16s airborne more difficult, and, when they arrive, the Western jets themselves.<\/p>\n

The Ukrainian military, which is low on air-defence ammunition, is also likely to be forced to move the prized planes around airfields, said Justin Bronk, of the Royal United Services Institute.<\/p>\n

“Any ground-based air defense coverage can be saturated if the Russians care enough to fire enough missiles at one target,” he said.<\/p>\n

SOURCE: REUTERS<\/em><\/strong><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MONITORING (SW) – Explosions reverberated across the pre-dawn sky as Ukrainian air defences fended off a Russian attack on this small city in western Ukraine, home to an important air base and a frequent target of Moscow’s strikes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":21550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[990,984,978,194,982,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest","category-news","category-security","category-world","category-international","category-headline"],"views":51,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21548"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21551,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21548\/revisions\/21551"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}