Russia Deploying Decoys After Heavy Fighter Jet Losses: UK

Russia is painting decoy fighter aircraft on the tarmac at its airfields to try to confuse Ukraine's forces but is undermining this move by landing helicopters on the silhouettes, British defense officials have said.

Russia's Air Force suffered heavy aircraft losses over the last few weeks, including more than a dozen warplanes such as Su-34 fighter bombers, Su-35 fighter jets and a rare A-50 military spy plane.

In its daily update on Tuesday, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said that it was "likely" that Kyiv's spat of successful strikes on military locations had forced Russia to "implement a number of decoy and deception techniques to obfuscate Ukrainian targeting efforts."

This included decoy Russian fighter aircraft being painted on the concrete of Korovskoye (Kirovske) Airfield in Crimea.

But Russian forces still land their helicopters on the painted decoy silhouettes, "completely undermining the deception attempt," the British MOD said, referring to a satellite image that shows the chopper on top of a decoy Sukhoi Su-30.

"This also reveals the true order of battle of aircraft strength at these airbases which Russia is likely trying to mask from Ukraine's intelligence picture," added the update, which tends to emphasize Russian losses and Ukrainian gains.

Newsweek reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.

In addition to Ukraine claiming responsibility for shooting down Russian aircraft, Kyiv said last week that it was, in fact, Moscow that had downed one of its own Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jets over Crimea due to a state of "combat readiness."

As previously reported by Newsweek, more than a fifth of Russia's known manned aircraft and helicopter losses between late February 2022 and mid-August 2023 had not been caused by Ukraine.

It comes amid anticipation over the impact that Western-supplied F-16 fighter jets will have on Ukraine's aviation capabilities, with the U.S.-made aircraft expected to be in operation later this year.

When asked about the supply of the planes, Vladimir Putin said that the planes, whose technology is superior to the Soviet-era jets Ukraine uses, would be "a legitimate target for us, no matter where they are."

Recapturing the peninsula that Putin seized in 2014 is a stated war aim for Kyiv, and the port city there, Sevastopol, where the Black Sea Fleet had mostly been based, has been repeatedly targeted by Ukrainian drones.

Overnight Monday, a power substation was blown up in the city, the Kyiv Independent reported, citing a source in Ukrainian intelligence.