Ukrainian aviation begins approaching Lysychansk: colonel assesses Ukrainian forces’ breakthrough

On occupied Donbas, the Russians have significantly developed their air defense system, noted Roman Svitan.

A strike by a Ukrainian Su-27 fighter jet on a Russian command post in Lysychansk indicates that the pilots successfully broke through the dense enemy air defenses on the occupied territory. This opinion was expressed on Channel 24 by Roman Svitan, a reserve colonel of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and flight instructor.

“Lysychansk is quite far. So, basically, if our aircraft have started approaching it, it means we’ve already deployed a certain air defense system there to cover the Su. Lysychansk is in the direction of Bilohorivka—Lysychansk, the Lysychansk Oil Refinery, Siversk…,” said Svitan.

He suggested that the Armed Forces of Ukraine might have struck the command post, for example, with HIMARS missiles.

“The fact that we’ve already started approaching there indicates that our Air Force is finally taking to the skies and advancing toward such critical directions—where Russian air defenses are very strong… They’ve been developing the air defense system in occupied Donbas for 10–11 years. It’s very difficult for aircraft to get close there,” the expert emphasized.

According to him, the geographical features of the region also play a significant role—particularly the mountains, which are 300–350 meters high. These elevations give enemy surface-to-air missile systems and other related weaponry additional advantages.

How a Soviet missile shot down a Russian A-50 aircraft

Earlier, Svitаn explained how Ukrainian forces managed to carry out an extremely complex operation—over a year ago—by downing a Russian A-50 long-range radar detection and control aircraft, as well as a Tu-22M3 bomber, using a Soviet-era S-200 missile.

According to the expert, refueling this missile requires sending an entire train to the launch site. It involves complex equipment and a specialized engineering unit.

Larysa Kozova