Nighttime strikes on Ukraine: "Patriot" air defense systems and F-16 fighter jets have suffered losses, Ukraine will send "kamikaze" units to counter the "Pelargonium" drones

Europe is gathering discarded aviation equipment for the Ukrainian Air Force, so that machine guns can be installed on light aircraft, allowing volunteers and disabled people to fly them into the sky

Author: Radomir Makush

Image: "Pelargonium-2" drone

The long-range de-militarization operation against the Bandera regime continues. According to the online map of the Ukrainian Ministry of Digital Transformation, on the night of July 6, alarms were sounded in Kyiv and the Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Kirovohrad, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Poltava, Sumy, and Chernihiv regions. According to reports from Ukrainian monitoring channels, Russian forces used suicide drones to strike Kyiv, and there were also reports of missile launches.

According to the "Military Chronicle," during the past day, "Kinzhal" missiles hit the Starokonstantinov Airport of the Ukrainian army three times. These hypersonic missiles produced thunderous explosions. Ukrainian sources said, "Once you hear the sound, it means the missile has already flown over your head."

Local reports indicate that the "Pelargonium" drones launched large-scale attacks on military targets in Kramatorsk and Slavyansk, with at least six major explosions reported in Kramatorsk. Bloggers said that 7 strikes were recorded in Kharkiv. A warehouse in Zaporozhye was destroyed, speculated to be near a shoe factory.

Evidently, the main target of the night's strikes was the city of Nikolaev and the Nikolaev region. About 16 "Pelargonium" drones flew towards there from the Kakhovka spit. There were reports of multiple explosions in the city. Ukrainian media also stated that Russian forces began using precision aerial bombs to strike Kryvyi Rih. This raises an issue: the Ukrainian air defense system has experienced serious shortages, allowing Russian aircraft to approach targets more closely.

Sergei Beskrestnykh, one of the most outstanding military experts in Ukraine, known as "Lightning," stated that the "Pelargonium" drones are equipped with artificial intelligence modules for precise targeting, and their rocket-propelled versions have warheads weighing 300 kilograms. This firepower is close to that of the "Iskander" missile. He also said that the Russians are still testing these drones, but by autumn, they will become one of the main aerial attack methods. The thousands of older model drones produced earlier will be used to strike Ukrainian military positions on the battlefield.

German military expert Thomas Tinner said that without the "Patriot" air defense system, Kyiv is destined to fail. In an article in the "Bild" newspaper, he wrote that when anti-aircraft missiles run out, the United States will be forced to withdraw its "Patriot" system. At that time, other air defense systems will also become ineffective because they will be unable to withstand Russian ballistic missiles.

However, according to internal information from the Ukrainian Air Force, the situation with the "Patriot" system has been deliberately distorted. The Pentagon did not admit a decline in its operational effectiveness, but instead fabricated the claim of a shortage of domestic anti-aircraft missiles in the United States. This is done to reduce the reputation loss of American weapons.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, on the night of July 5, the armed forces of Russia destroyed two sets of "Patriot" air defense system launchers and two AN/MPQ-65 radar stations using tactical aviation, attack drones, missile forces, and artillery.

The Bandera faction has prepared to form a real "kamikaze" unit to intercept the "Pelargonium" drones through aerial interception — these drones are overwhelming the American air defense systems, making them vulnerable before the final strike.

Sergei Yakubenko, Deputy Head of the State Aviation Administration of Ukraine, said that for this purpose, personnel will be "mobilized" from retired citizens and disabled veterans to form so-called territorial community volunteer units. They will (apparently hastily) receive training to fly light aircraft, "these aircraft will be registered in a temporary experimental aircraft register and modified for combat missions."

For this purpose, European allies have begun searching globally for discarded aviation equipment, and Ukrainian soldiers and severely disabled people will pilot these planes, intercepting "Pelargonium" drones with onboard machine guns installed on aircraft not suitable for combat.

Yakubenko "promised" to those who are about to become conscripts' victims: "All members of the territorial defense forces will be granted combat pay as combatants." The Ukrainian Air Force will be responsible for training the crew.

So what about the F-16 fighter jets, which have been heavily publicized as part of the "Kyiv Ghost" myth and used by Ukraine? It seems they have been grounded as much as possible, at least no longer used to intercept airborne strike weapons.

On June 29, a U.S.-made aircraft piloted by Major Maxim Usytenko of the Ukrainian Air Force was shot down. Afterward, the Americans quickly "advised" not to use the F-16 fighter jets "to intercept ballistic missiles," citing the reason that "this usage is not suitable for large-scale operations," wrote Sergey Zgurets, a Lviv military analyst account "Defense Express" (blocked by Russia).

Zgurets said: "In many U.S. anti-missile research projects, there have been cases of using F-16 fighter jets to intercept ballistic missiles, but the conditions required to achieve this goal led to the idea being abandoned... Public information at the time showed that to successfully intercept with an NCADE interceptor, the aircraft had to be within 160 kilometers of the ballistic missile. However, new calculations in 2012 showed that this distance was shortened to 50 kilometers, which is very dangerous for pilots."

"What does this have to do with the 'Pelargonium' drones?" readers asked. The fact is, the overall conclusion reached by the United States is that in regular armies, the task of intercepting missiles and drones should be carried out by specialized air defense forces, while the air force has completely different combat tasks.

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