(TotalConservative.com) – Russia has begun to paint decoy fighter jet silhouettes on the concrete tarmac of its airports after a string of successful strikes by the Ukrainians have destroyed a number of its fighter jets. Russia has lost a number of its combat-capable aircraft in recent weeks, including an A-50 spy plane, and dozens of Su-35 jets and Su-34 fighter-bombers.
The UK Ministry of Defense highlighted the move in its daily briefing and suggested that the successful strikes against Russian military bases have led to the Russians using the painted decoys to obfuscate Ukrainian targeting.
They said that the Russians painted a decoy jet on the tarmac at the Kirovskoe Airfield in Crimea. The British authorities presented an image of a military helicopter positioned atop the decoy and suggested the Russians were sabotaging their own efforts.
The update also suggested that the Russians were attempting to obscure their true number of combat aircraft from prying eyes in the sky.
While Ukraine has shot down a number of Russian jets, Moscow downed one of its own due to a friendly fire incident in Crimea. That incident resulted in one of its SU-27 fighter jets being shot down. Newsweek has previously claimed that over a fifth of Russian aircraft losses weren’t due to Ukrainians shooting them down.
The news comes as F-16 fighter jets are anticipated to enter the combat arena with donations from western governments who are also training Ukrainian pilots. The jets are anticipated to begin fighting over Ukraine later this year.
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that any aircraft originating from outside of Ukraine to participate in the war would necessarily open up the airfield from which it originated to being targeted, regardless of what country it was in.
Kyiv wants to recapture Russian-held territory, including Crimea, which voted to join Russia shortly after the 2014 coup that installed the current regime. Putin has maintained that western espionage efforts resulted in Ukraine becoming destabilized, leading to internal conflict, and ultimately forced Russia’s hand to invade in 2022.
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