The Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine published calculations on the total cost of aerial equipment destroyed over September 5 – 7. The result is approximately USD 157,5 million.
"One of the most expensive and most technologically advanced missiles in service with the russian federation is, of course, the Kh-101 cruise missile," says the Air Force Command. "So, the enemy launched six Kh-101's on Ukraine on September 5 (five of them were shot down by air defense of the Air Force – author's note). The estimated cost of the Kh-101 is $13 million per unit. 13 x 6 = 78 million dollars."
Read more: How russians Wasted Kh-31P and Kh-58 Missiles And Failed to Destroy Ukraine’s Air Defense
In addition, russians had lost:
- two Kh-59 aerial cruise missiles – $300,000 x 2 = $600,000
- two Ka-52 attack helicopters – $16.2 mln x 2 = $32.4 million
- one Mi-24 attack helicopter – $12.5 mln
- three Su-25 attack aircraft – $11 mln x 3 = $33 million
- ten "Orlan-10" reconnaissance UAVs – $100,000 x 10 = 1 million
Here is how two russian Su-25's went down, video from the Air Assualt Forces Command:
These figures show two things. First, as noted by the Ukrainian Air Force, they showcase how recklessly russian forces use the aviation resources available while still bragging about the "one-of-a-kind" technologies which in practice turn out to be vulnerable and "unique" only in a questionable way.
And we can see that such a waste of rotorcraft, UAV and missiles is not significantly higher than the conventional "average". For instance, there were three helicopters lost on August 24, or an entire seven UAVs two days prior, which means russia constantly loses millions in military equipment, which cannot be replenished so easily, taking into account the ban onforeign parts used in most of these products.
russian Ka-52 destroyed by Ukrainian "Buk" SAM on Sept. 7 got on video, too:
Secondly, Ukrainian air defense has significantly grown in power and capability to both track and destroy aircraft and deter cruise missile strikes. Five out of six missiles were shot down on Sept. 6, all five on Sept. 3 – both the Air Force and ground forces gained a lot of experience in detecting and neutralizing russian missile attacks.
At the same time, russian attack aircraft tries to prevent the advance of Ukrainian troops in multiple directions of counteroffensive, exposing itself to these improved capabilities, which naturally results in the increase of additional losses: throughout September 3 – 8 russians had lost five planes in almost a week; this is the first time since the attack on Saky airfield they’d lost that many.
Read more: Ukraine’s Air Force States Unique Air Defense System Is Created in Ukraine
