The story of the Ukrainian air force, once fully told, will undoubtedly influence the thinking of air power theorists and combat aviators for generations to come. Above all, in this age of advancing technologies, Ukraine’s fighter pilots have clearly demonstrated the enduring importance of the human element in aerial warfare.
“Maybe it’s stupid, but we don’t give a shit about technologies — we’re just trying to do everything with what we’ve got,” Juice said. “It’s our land, it’s our families, it’s our cities. We are defending them. That’s the main motivation for us. And we succeed in this, because the Russians are surprised. They are fucking surprised. Especially about our ground air defenses, and also about our fighters. Because they were not expecting resistance in the air at all.”
“There is no motivation that compares to defending your home and family. It surpasses technology and numbers,” Jersey said. “Additionally, the Ukrainians are choosing the time and the place of their engagements. Invading Russian aircraft have to be effective at all times, but the glorious defenders have to be effective only when they decide to be.”
In contrast, the Russian air force appears to have been complacent after years of flying in the uncontested airspace over Syria. And that complacency likely contributed to their underestimation of Ukraine’s air force.
“Syria was just a training range for them,” Juice said. “They were working at high altitudes or medium altitudes without real resistance. [In Ukraine] they were prepared for typical missions in good weather conditions and with total dominance of all technologies, like GPS systems and electronic warfare systems. But here in Ukraine, there is an absolutely different situation. We use much more advanced systems than in Syria. And it’s a problem for the Russians to conduct their missions here. Even with the clouds, even with the bad weather. It’s a problem for them.”
For their part, the Russians also appear to be sending their warplanes head on into Ukraine’s air defenses — effectively sacrificing their pilots as Ukrainian anti-aircraft missiles are steadily exhausted.
“The Russians are fucking crazy. They don’t count the lives of their pilots,” Juice said. “They’re sending and sending jets across the border. They know about our MANPADS, they know about our Buks and our S-300s [anti-aircraft systems], but they’re still sending jets and helicopters to our border, to the front line.”
Ukrainian air force
Ukrainian air defense systems continue to deny Russia air superiority. Here, the patch of a Mi-24 Hind crew member is found in the wreckage of one that was shot down. Photo from Twitter.
MacGyvers of the Sky
Creativity is one key pillar of the Ukrainians’ air war. For example, after the Russians destroyed many of the Ukrainians’ ground-based navigation aids, the Ukrainian pilots improvised ad hoc solutions to navigate their aircraft. When it comes to Russian air defenses, the Ukrainians simply fly “lower and faster,” Juice said, underscoring another key attribute of the Ukrainian air force — the courage to take extreme risks.
“It’s very difficult to fly low levels at night without night vision, without GPS, with obstacles,” Juice said. “We are more flexible than the Russians. Since 2014, we are trained for not typical missions. We are trained to do some crazy shit. We are ready to be deployed on absolutely not operational airfields. We can do everything.”
A native of eastern Ukraine, Juice is unmarried and has no children. Without sugarcoating the air war’s emotional strain, he demonstrates a jocular attitude toward the lethal dangers he faces. While explaining that his beard doesn’t interfere with his oxygen mask forming a tight seal around his face, Juice joked that the beard is “some tactical shit,” which will allow him to blend in with Ukrainian special operators if he has to be rescued after an ejection.
MiG Pilot Interview
Ukraine’s air force pilots, like Juice, in the cockpit of a Ukrainian MiG-29 fighter jet, take extreme risks to protect their homeland. Photo courtesy of Juice/Ukrainian Air Force.
To the uninitiated, Juice’s upbeat, even cavalier demeanor may seem incongruous with the daily dangers he faces. The truth is, however, that humor is a purposeful defense against the astronomical levels of stress that combat pilots face in wartime. The joking, the cool demeanor, the compartmentalization, the sterile vocabulary — it’s all part of a well-honed fighter pilot culture, which ingrains the mental resilience needed to survive.
“All of us are ready to fight. Even with our losses, we are still doing our job in this real combat mood, real fighter mood, with crazy jokes,” Juice said. “We have great morale. But it’s also limited, because we don’t want to die. And for the guys with families … it’s way harder for them.”
While speaking with Juice, even through the remove of a computer screen, it’s hard to overlook the many burdens weighing on this young man’s shoulders. He refers to air combat against technologically superior and more numerous Russian jets as a “one-way ticket.” He laments the loss of his fellow fighter pilots but does not dwell on the dead — there will be time to honor their memory after the war is won, he said. Apart from the mortal threats he faces, Juice is also responsible, each time he flies, for the safe care of one of his country’s limited number of fighter jets — an especially precious commodity the longer the war drags on and takes its steady toll.
“We still have this air war, and we still need more hardware, and more advanced stuff, to be successful,” Juice said. “I don’t want a one-way ticket, I want to kill somebody, not just be killed. That’s the main point. We are ready to be killed. We are ready, but we don’t want. We want to be effective. That’s why we need the tools.”
“We are ready to be killed. We are ready, but we don’t want. We want to be effective. That’s why we need the tools.”
Despite Russia’s advantages in technology and numbers, the Ukrainian air war has, in effect, become one of attrition. At this point, therefore, the Ukrainians’ top priorities are finding ways to replenish their stocks of expended anti-aircraft missiles and downed warplanes.