Not bad: pilots able to engage in a fight are barely 10 per cent.
The relentless and realistic estimate was issued by Defense Minister Ihor Tenyukh, who, on behalf of the new Kiev government, monitored the current state of Ukrainian defense.
In his report to the president, Tenyukh spoke of "armed forces unable to fight and with obsolete equipment".
Tenyukh also said that Ukraine is in possession of brand new Mig-29 (probably delivered before the crisis that destabilized the old regime) and that test flights are underway to train pilots.
One wonders the fate of these fighters (already in a few weeks) of which the exact number is unknown and until the pilots can continue to train considering the closure of every relationship with Moscow and the consequent interruption of every war supply. Kiev, which economically does not certainly sail in good waters, has the urgent need to access Russian (ex-Soviet) military supplies, on pain of eliminating any defensive capacity which is already ineffective.
A very similar situation in all the satellite countries of the former Soviet Union. Unthinkable then, to imagine Kiev able to sign billion-dollar contracts to acquire Western military material: this explains the rapprochement with NATO, which, however, has not insisted too much in defending Ukraine, relegating it to a mere collaborating nation.
If he had been a member of the Organization, we would already be in World War III.
Franco Iacch
(photo: MoD Ukraine)
