Revelation: Sophisticated Traps To Ambush Ukrainian Fighter Jets

As Ukrainian pilots continue to fly soviet era MiG-29s, he stressed they can do no more than “hold the battlefield”. Wiping out the Russians, who fly the supersonic Sukhoi Su-35s modern air superiority fighter jets and Su-34 bombers, has proved difficult.

“Right now, we can only hold the enemy but with F-16s we could control the airfield, as well as the seas and the

Latest news revealed Russia is setting sophisticated “traps” to ambush Ukrainian fighter jets, one of Kyiv's top pilots has revealed.

Major Vadym Voroshylov has told how every day it is becoming harder to keep the Russians at bay with the outdated soviet aircrafts as he pleaded for the West to send F-16 fighter jets.

Major Voroshylov, who in a rare break from the front line met with The Telegraph, warned: “The Russians change tactics all the time, so the war isn’t stable. They make traps. They will send up a Russian jet alone, tricking the Ukrainian pilot into thinking there is only one jet. Then, two or three more will appear either side of it, effectively swarming the Ukrainian aircraft.”

ground to protect infantry,” he said. “We need more modern aircrafts to be better than the enemy.”

Ukraine initially sought to obtain the US made F-16s, of which there are over 3,000 operating worldwide. The combat-proven, multi-role aircraft, has been upgraded and enhanced over the years, even with some fifth-generation technologies such as advanced radar.

However, Joe Biden, the US president, recently said he did not want to supply Ukraine with F-16 fighters for now, which prompted Volodymyr Zelensky to urge Rishi Sunak to give Ukraine RAF Typhoons.

In February, the Prime Minister instructed the Ministry of Defence to investigate which of Britain's planes could be given to Ukraine, although Mr Sunak cautioned that it could take three years to train a pilot.

This time frame is something Major Voroshylov and his colleague Colonel Volodymyr Lohachov, chief of the aviation department of the Ukrainian Air Force Command, dispute. 

“Less than six months are required to train on such a jet,”  Colonel Lohachov said. 

“As long as we continue to wait we will lose more pilots. We had a list of the most advanced pilots who could be trained on F-16s and unfortunately, some of them have already been killed in action.” 

In recent weeks, Eastern European Nato member states have begun transferring old Soviet fighter jets for the first time, with a promise from the West that newer models will be provided to backfill. 

Slovenia and Poland have both sent MiGs from their ageing stock, but some are only useful for spare parts. Despite a lack of promises over more advanced Western fighter jets, the Ukrainian pilots remain optimistic.