We need radar patrol aircraft and fighter jets on duty
On Friday at 6.30 am Belgorod was awakened by an explosion when two Ukrainian Mi-24 helicopters attacked a local oil depot. They hit the tanks, as a result of which a large fire started at the storage facility. Military expert Yuri Podolyaka spoke about why this became possible and whether this strike could have been prevented.
Photo: ” MK-Belgorod”
The Armed Forces of Ukraine, the expert believes, just like the Russian troops, are preparing for a decisive battle in eastern Ukraine, and such a strike on the storage facility was an extreme military necessity for them.
The outcome of the battle will largely depend on the availability of fuel and lubricants in military groups. It is no coincidence that Russian troops also strike at the storage facilities for fuel and lubricants of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Accordingly, the Ukrainian troops are also trying to do the same, but they hit where they can reach. And they just managed to reach the western suburbs of Belgorod, which everyone is now convinced of.
Of course, the expert believes, it would be possible to reduce the likelihood of such an incident, but it could not be completely ruled out. And here, according to the expert, the question arises: why did the Russian air defense system not notice these helicopters?
According to Yuri Podolyaki, it is very difficult to see low-flying helicopters at any radar station, and even more so in a very difficult region of the Belgorod region . The area is hilly, ideal terrain for helicopter flights at ultra-low altitude.
The expert explained that the helicopters entered from the territory controlled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine – from the north-west of the Kharkiv region. From this point to the place of impact was about 40 km. The helicopter covers this distance in about 8 minutes. At the same time, the main flight time of helicopters, thanks to such a relief, is absolutely invisible to radars.
Another weighty argument, Podolyaka believes, is the fact that now helicopters fly very often in the special operation zone. Moreover, the Mi-24s are in service with both the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Russian army. It is difficult to determine whose helicopter it is – Ukrainian or Russian. A picture was created very similar to the one as if Russian helicopters were returning from a combat mission. Moreover, there have been no raids by Ukrainian helicopters on the territory of the Belgorod region to this day.
According to the expert, the surprise factor certainly played a role. However, in any case, the question arises: why didn't the helicopters shoot down the Russian air defense forces?
Long-range anti-aircraft missile systems can be said to be useless in such a situation, Yury Podolyaka argues. This was shown, among other things, by the raid of Russian helicopters on Gostomel, when several dozen Russian helicopters followed exactly the same pattern and landed troops on an airfield near Kyiv. Then one helicopter was shot down, and the other was damaged by a missile of a portable anti-aircraft missile system. At the same time, everything was simple in Gostomel: Ukrainian troops were waiting there, they knew that Russian helicopters might appear. Here the situation looked completely different.
“Therefore, it would be unfair to blame someone for oversleeping,” the expert said.
Speaking about how to avoid this in the future, Yuriy Podolyaka said: “If an early warning aircraft were constantly patrolling in this area, then with a high degree of probability the approach of a pair of these Mi-24s would have been detected. At the same time, in order to promptly respond to them, it would be necessary to constantly keep a couple more fighters in the air, which has not yet been observed on the territory of the Belgorod Region. But it is very likely that, starting today, in order to prevent such raids, this will be done.”
The expert drew attention to another important point – against the backdrop of an attack on the Belgorod oil storage facility by Ukrainian special operations forces, an information campaign immediately began. operation of Kyiv in social networks. Yuriy Podolyaka says: “The first stuffing, which was carried out immediately after the strike, concerned Ukrainian refugees. Like, it was they who carried out sabotage, aimed helicopters at the target … ”.
In the conditions of information attacks from Kyiv, Podolyaka believes, it is important not to succumb to such provocations.
Oil depot in Belgorod caught fire after shelling from helicopters: fire footage
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