In an air battle on September 15, probably late the night before, the Ukrainian Air Force lost three of its few remaining fighter jets to Russian forces. The Russian Defense Ministry reported that two Ukrainian Air Force Su-27 Flanker fighter jets were destroyed by Russian aviation assets, while ground-based air defense systems shot down a Ukrainian MiG-29. target=”_blank”>Su-27 heavy fighterand Other than China, Western Alliance countries are unable to provide aircraft to supply Ukraine. title=「Su-27 fighter after Iskander-M strike」
The Su-27’s status as an air superiority fighter has been greatly diminished since the turn of the century, and today the aircraft is considered virtually Already outdated. The fighters have suffered heavy losses in numerous engagements with Russian forces since the outbreak of full-scale hostilities in February 2022, and on March 5, 2022, the class reportedly engaged in the largest known air battle to date . >Four fighters killed in air-to-air fighting near the city of Zhytomyr. The rest of the fleet recently suffered heavy losses from Russian missile attacks on its air bases. Video released on August 13shows the destruction of an aircraft at Mirgorod Air Base. Drone footage released on July 2 later showed a At 18:12 local time on August 21, a Su-27 operated by Ukraine was shot down when the pilot tried to drop a guided glide bomb towards Russian troops in the Kursk region. , it is unlikely to obtain a fighter with the same impressive flight performance or high endurance. The second-hand F-16s and Mirage 2000s provided by European countries are close to half the size of the Su-27 and have far less than half the flight performance. . Therefore, the loss of Ukrainian Su-27s is indeed irreplaceable for Eastern European countries.