The record number of air raid alerts is due to the preventive way of protecting the civilian population.

Out of a total of 200 sorties by Russians for strikes on the territory of Ukraine on Independence Day, only 8 Kh-22 missiles were fired from Tu-22M3 bombers.

Defense Express military expert Ivan Krichevsky told about this on Facebook .

Krychevsky considers this event “a turning point in the war in favor of Ukraine”: “Because it turned out that the Russians are no longer capable of massive missile attacks from the air.

Of the 200 sorties that the Russians conducted on August 24, 90 were tactical aircraft – Su-24, Su-30, Su-34 or even Su-35.

“Theoretically, each of these Sus could carry on board 1-2 X-59 missiles with a firing range of up to 150 km and a warhead weighing 150 kg. us oil depots in March-April 2022. But on Independence Day, the Russians did not release a single X-59, because even they became scarce for them,” the expert wrote.

34 sorties fell on strategic bombers of the Tu-22M3 and Tu-95MS types.

“It’s easy to guess that as many as 34 heavy bombers and only 8 fired missiles” do not fit “with each other – the representative of the Air Force the next day during a briefing admitted that the lion’s share of air alerts on August 24 turned out to be a “game on the nerves” from the Rashists, ” – said Krichevsky.

The record number of air raid alerts is due to the preventive way of protecting the civilian population.

Another 80 sorties of enemy aviation on Independence Day were either on the “boards” of the army aviation of the RF Armed Forces, or on the “boards” of special purposes, such as A-50 radar patrol aircraft or Il-22PP radar jamming aircraft.

“I repeat once again – lifting as many as 200 aircraft into the air during the day at the beginning of the war would have been quite enough for the Russians to launch a truly massive missile strike from the air, with many casualties and destruction. But on August 24, 2022, this was more likely for them to “games on the nerves” of Ukraine,” Krychevsky noted.

At the same time, the Russians attacked Chaplino with scarce Iskander missiles. According to the expert, preliminary data on 7,000 ballistic and cruise missiles for this OTRK are somewhat “overstated.”  

“Therefore, it turns out that way – it seems like a stock of 1000-1500 missiles still looks menacing. But the Russians did not dare to use it on August 24, 2022, and “limited themselves” to using 8 scarce X-22s (because this is one of only 3 types missiles, against which our air defense does not have “regular” countermeasures).

The rest of these missiles can be used by Russia for launching missile strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure on the eve of winter, the expert believes. However, previous strikes on the energy infrastructure claimed a large number of missiles from the Russians.

“Therefore, it is more likely that in the future the Russians will carry out missile strikes from the air using a different method – to spend missiles “a teaspoon per hour.” Even if there are no serious casualties and destruction, the enemy will be able to constantly keep Ukrainians in suspense for a long time. The Russians certainly will not risk dropping conventional air bombs on our cities,” Krichevsky said.

As UNIAN wrote, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov, commenting on the successful strikes of the armed forces on August 26 , said that Ukraine can give the aggressor such “gifts” every day.

(C)UNIAN 2022