ODESSA, Ukraine — The fighter pilot known as “Juice” usually only has a few minutes to climb. When he’s on call, which is almost always the case these days, he can’t be more than a bathroom break from his cockpit. When a cruise missile or Russian warplane is sighted approaching the area Juice is assigned to from the Ukrainian Air Force, he doesn’t even have time to go through the usual pre-takeoff security checks.
“We’re ready to be killed,” said Juice, giving only his call sign for security reasons.
“But of course we don’t want that,” added the 29-year-old. “We want to kill Russians and shoot down their bombers that are killing our cities and our families.”
Juice is one of the pilots helping Ukraine pull off the biggest surprise of this war: their military has kept the skies over Ukraine contested despite Russia’s more advanced jets and superior numbers. But he and other pilots say that’s not enough. While Kiev’s forces on the ground may have even surpassed Moscow’s, Russia continued to inflict heavy casualties on Ukraine from the air.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appealed to the United States and other NATO allies to establish a no-fly zone over the country – a move the military alliance’s leaders were reluctant to take amid fears of triggering a world war with Moscow. Now Zelensky is pushing for more advanced air defense systems and jets.
But Juice and others have said the weapons that countries have been discussing transferring to Ukraine — notably the Russian-made MiG-29 fighters and US-made Stinger anti-aircraft missiles — will not help the Kyiv Air Force, tip the scales in their favor. The chasm between the weapons Ukraine wants and what Western countries are willing to deliver has become a key tension after nearly two months of fighting.
Nowhere is this chasm more evident than in the proposed transfers of airborne material. Juice flies MiG-29s, which are a staple of the Soviet-era Ukrainian Air Force. But he said Ukrainian pilots are “just targets” for Russian adversaries flying far more advanced jets. Obtaining more outdated MiGs would not improve Ukraine’s position in the sky, he said.
“We have losses in our air force almost every day,” he added. “You won’t see this on TV because everything is secret at the moment, but actually we have a lot of losses. That’s why we have to be technically equal to the Russians. Just our mental advantage is not enough to fight with these technologies.”
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Poland last month offered to send a number of MiG-29 jets to Ukraine via a US airbase in Germany, surprising US officials. In return, Poland requested the United States to send replacement aircraft, presumably newer US-made F-16s, which would represent a major upgrade. Washington rejected the plan.
Then on Monday, Slovakian Prime Minister Eduard Heger told reporters that Slovakia would consider making MiG-29 fighter jets available to Ukraine if alternative protection of its own airspace could be arranged.
But for Ukrainian pilots, more MiG-29s are not the solution. The jets that Poland has offered them for transfer are even older – some dating from the late 1980s – than their current stock.
“I think the Ukrainians are right — you’re basically an airborne target if you don’t have these modern skills,” said Herbert “Hawk” Carlisle, a retired US Air Force general. “It’s not just an airplane up there. You have to have all this sophisticated gear to really make it a viable aerial platform.”
Countries have suggested sending MiG-29s mostly to the Ukrainians, because the country’s pilots already know how to fly. If they got F-16s, Carlisle said, not only would the pilots have to learn a flight system, which he described as “significantly different” from Soviet-style jets; Ground personnel would need training on how to maintain the planes and load them with compatible ammunition.
But Juice and another Ukrainian pilot whose callsign is “Nomad” said the learning curve isn’t as extensive as it’s often made out to be. Nomad, who is in the United States on a training program, said it would likely take Ukrainians about two weeks to learn the nuances of US-made F-series aircraft.
Many of the pilots already speak English and have participated in joint exercises with the US Air Force, so they are familiar with the terminology of those planes’ systems, they said.
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The pilots also criticized the effectiveness of Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, which were part of US aid packages. Nomad said it was “almost impossible” to hit a maneuverable, fast Russian jet with the missiles. Carlisle agreed, adding that Stingers aren’t designed to take out fighters — they’re meant to be used against helicopters and other slow-moving, low-flying aircraft.
If Western countries are reluctant to give Ukraine modern jets that their pilots aren’t trained on, they should at least consider sending more advanced air defense systems, Juice said. He said these are much easier to learn how to use.
Military analysts expected Russia to wipe out Ukraine’s air defense systems, airfields and aircraft on the very first day of the war, when Moscow still had the element of surprise. But Rob Lee, an expert on the Russian military and a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, said Russia “didn’t really count on a deathblow,” and in some cases their missiles hit the airfield but missed the runway.
Ukrainian pilots could improvise from there. Juice said the battle in the sky doesn’t feel fair when it’s up against a more modern Russian jet. He often has to avoid his opponent completely to stay alive. Sometimes he and his fellow pilots manage to get the Russians to fly to an area where the Ukrainians have an anti-aircraft system.
Analysts at the Oryx blog, which tracks Russian military losses, documented 20 planes and 30 helicopters destroyed or damaged in Ukraine.
“We’re just trying to do something non-standard, and sometimes it’s successful and sometimes it’s not,” Juice said. “Sometimes they are just stupid and the Russians just show their incompetence and underestimate our training.
“But in general, unfortunately, we cannot gain real air superiority.”