Russia fired 500 missiles, Ukraine still has 'majority of its aircrafts'

|HT|

Ukraine still has a "significant majority" of its military aircraft available nine days after Russian forces started their invasion of the country, a U.S. defense official said on Friday.Vastly outmatched by Russia's military, in terms of raw numbers and firepower, the fact that Ukraine's own air force is still flying and its air defenses are still deemed to be viable has surprised military experts.

"The Ukrainians still have a significant majority of their air combat power available to them, both fixed-wing and rotary wing as well as unmanned systems and surface-to-air systems," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The official added that Ukrainian aircraft had suffered some loses, including being destroyed by Russian forces, but did not give details.

After the opening salvos of the war on Feb. 24, analysts expected the Russian military to try to immediately destroy Ukraine's air force and air defenses.

Russia has fired more than 500 missiles at Ukrainian targets since the start of the invasion, but is still flying through contested airspace.

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