Number of Russian bombers remains at pre-war level despite losses - military expert Katkov

He shared the remarks on Espreso TV.

Katkov commented on the statement by the Defense Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate on how many bombers Russia has: "These figures suggest that the enemy has recovered the losses, having over a hundred of Su-34 aircraft,. As for the Su-35, the number is the same".

Citing the Military Balance, the expert stressed that the current figure corresponds to the number of 2021.

"In this case, it is only important to state that, despite the losses that were caused by war, the Russian Federation and its military-industrial complex were able to keep this number even at the same level. That is, there will be nothing new, nothing better, nothing worse, except, of course, the expansion of the range of ammunition used by the so-called Aerospace Forces of the Russian Federation. We are talking about gliding and correction module, which allows the use of aircraft without entering the range of all anti-aircraft missile systems, except for Patriot," Katkov concluded.

Russian aircraft downed in Ukraine

On February 3, the Ukrainian Defense Forces targeted a Russian A-50U aircraft. Russia instead claimed that the aircraft had crashed, causing reeds to catch fire.

On February 17, the Ukrainian Air Force downed three Russian aircraft at once - two Su-34 fighter-bombers and a Su-35 fighter jet.

The next day, on Sunday, February 18, the Air Force reported another downing of a Russian Su-34 fighter-bomber. In addition, during a nighttime attack by the Russian Federation, air defense forces targeted 12 Shahed drones and a Russian missile.

Later, Ukrainian soldiers shot down two more Russian aircraft.

On April 3, the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine reported on the number of enemy Su-34 and Su-35. 

It is noted that as of March 2024, the Russian Aerospace Forces have about 100 Su-35 multifunctional fighters, more than 100 Su-34 fighter-bombers, and seven A-50U long-range radar detection and guidance aircraft.

It was reported that from the beginning of the full-scale invasion until April 2024, 347 Russian aircraft were destroyed