Victory Chronicles-DAY 747

After ten months of training, a full squadron of twelve Ukrainian pilots will soon be ready to fly F-16 fighters, but only six planes will be delivered to Ukraine out of the promised forty-five. 

The pilots are currently waiting for fighter jets and instructors at a training center in southern Romania, but it is unclear when they will begin training there. There is a lot of uncertainty surrounding the delivery of the planes, the number of planes Ukraine will receive, the speed of pilot training, and the availability of maintenance personnel. The training process has been slower than expected due to the need for pilots to learn English and Western military practices. 

Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, and Belgium have committed to sending forty-five aircraft, but not all countries have determined delivery dates. There is also a need to repair military runways in Ukraine before the F-16s can be used in combat.

Open-source analysts reveal that Russia has purportedly withdrawn 25 to 40 percent of its tank strategic reserves from open-air storage sites. Dara Massicot of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace suggests Russia likely extracted its top-tier equipment from reserves, leaving behind inferior or irreparable units. Furthermore, Massicot predicts a gradual depletion of Russia’s inventory over the next few years if operations persist at the current pace. This analysis suggests that Russia might confront equipment shortages in the coming years unless production rates increase or battlefield losses decrease.

The Command of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine showed a photo of an SOF sniper who shot down a ZALA UAV. “In one of the operational areas, the Special Forces operators detected an enemy UAV in the air, which was reconnaissance. The sniper proved his qualifications, the UAV became a trophy of the Special Forces and will be further studied by specialists,” the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in a statement.

In the area of Novomykhailivka, Russian occupants continue to continuously attack the positions of the 79th separate airborne assault brigade.

“Yesterday, the enemy once again sent infantry to attack with the support of armored vehicles. However, this attempt ended in a complete fiasco for them – the armored vehicles were left burning in the field, and the infantry was destroyed. The video shows the results of the work of the Tauride paratroopers.” reports the Public Relations Service of the 79th separate airborne assault brigade of the Airborne Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

A Ukrainian military official confirmed that Russian forces are conducting strikes in Ukraine with improved glide bombs. Ukrainian Tavriisk Group of Forces Spokesperson Captain Dmytro Lykhovyi reported on March 10 that Russian forces struck Myrnohrad, Donetsk Oblast, with three universal interspecific glide munition (UMPB) D-30SN guided glide bombs that Ukrainian forces initially originally assessed were S-300 missiles.

Lykhovyi stated that improved UMPB D-30SN guided glide bombs essentially convert Soviet-era FAB unguided gravity bombs to guided glide bombs. Russian forces had previously used unguided glide bombs as recently as January 2024. ISW recently observed Russian milbloggers claim that Russian forces began conducting strikes with FAB UMPB guided glide bombs, as opposed to using unguided glide bombs with unified planning and correction modules (UMPC), in unspecified areas in Ukraine.

A Russian milblogger claimed that UMPB guided glide bombs have a guidance system that includes a noise-resistant GLONASS/GPS “Comet” signal receiver and folding wings similar to a Kh-101 cruise missile. Russian milbloggers claimed that Russian forces can launch UMPB guided glide bombs from aircraft and ground-based multiple rocket launch systems (MLRS) such as Tornado-S and Smerch MLRS.

A Russian outlet claimed that Russian aviation is currently launching UMPBs without jet engines, but that Russia anticipates employing UMPBs with jet engines in the future. Russian milbloggers claimed that UMPB guided glide bombs with a jet engine and fuel tank, currently absent from aerial glide bombs with UMPC, will allow Russian aviation to drop guided glide bombs from a lower altitude “similar to air-to-surface cruise missiles” and increase the maximum strike range to 80-90 kilometers.

Russian milbloggers claimed that the increased range of UMPB guided glide bombs will allow Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) to increase the depth of strikes on Ukrainian positions without risk from Ukrainian air forces detecting or destroying Russian fixed-wing aircraft. Russian milbloggers claimed that the Russian defense industrial base (DIB) is attempting to mass-produce UMPB guided glide bombs. Russian forces will likely attempt to serialize production of UMPB guided glide bombs and increase their use across the frontline.

Fighter Yurii Patra, with the call sign Patrick, died on October 30, 2023, while performing a combat mission near the village of Levadne, Zaporizhzhia Oblast. The defender’s life was cut short by enemy artillery fire. The warrior was 28 years old.

Yurii was born in the village of Strusiv, Ternopil Oblast. He grew up there and received a secondary education. In 2018, he completed his military service. In 2021, he married his beloved Halyna and moved to the village of Luchka in his native region. He dreamed of children and family comfort. He worked at a local enterprise.

At the beginning of the full-scale war, in March 2022, the man was drafted into the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He served in the 16th Separate Rifle Battalion (military unit A7100) as a rifleman. Together with his comrades, he defended the Zaporizhzhia direction.

“Yura was a very good man with a sincere open heart and a kind soul, always ready to help in any way. He bravely fulfilled his duty as a citizen of Ukraine. Until his last breath, he was loyal to his comrades and the state. Being in the combat zones, he never complained that it was hard for him, on the contrary, he tried to support us and said that everything would be fine… We miss him very much… He was our support, our backbone and our whole world. We love him very much, and he will always be in our hearts with our daughter,” said Halyna Patra, the deceased’s wife.

Yurii was buried in the village of Luchka, Ternopil Oblast. He is survived by his wife Halyna and daughter Ilona, born in 2023. 

*Yurii’s story on the Heroes Memorial – a platform for stories about the fallen defenders of Ukraine.

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