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Regarding the recent peak of the Russian Ka-52 attack helicopter.

The other day the Russian media wrote that the Russian army lost the KA-52 "Alligator"

helicopter. The loss of equipment is commonplace, nothing special, but there is a nuance.

The helicopter was not destroyed by the AFU,

but self-destructed together with two pilots, snagging power lines.

Russian helicopters are forced to stay as close to the ground as possible while flying

along the line of battle - this is normal when the front is saturated with MANPADS.

But not every pilot will be able to perform such maneuvers professionally,

and the number of such pilots on the Russian side is decreasing every day.

That is, speaking about the shortage of professional officers in Russian units,

platoon or company level, we should also speak about an acute shortage of professionals of other,

narrower specializations. For example, pilots of attack helicopters or fighter jets.

Decades of building up the military resources of the Russian troops were

leveled by just one year of war. And they have not even fought NATO, although Russian

propagandists have been saying this all year to make the failure less embarrassing.

If they believe that Russia is fighting against arms suppliers, then, following their logic,

Ukraine is also fighting against Iran, China, and all countries whose components are used in

Russia's weapons. In general, the delusions of Russian propagandists. The Russian army

is receiving what it deserves from Ukrainian soldiers, often with outdated Soviet weapons.

This should be even more painful for the self-esteem of the Russian commander-in-chief.

Meanwhile, Slovakia will give Ukraine 13 MiG-29 fighters and 2K12 Kub SAMs.

Poland is also transferring MiGs.

Thus, thanks to the two NATO countries, the Ukrainian side will receive two full-fledged

squadrons of MiG-29 with a small nuance - some of the planes require maintenance and repair.

Now some will remind you that "KUB" is the grand-daddy of the Buk missile system,

which was adopted for service in 1967, and was removed from production in 1983.

In other words, what good is this old Soviet scrap metal in the conditions of

modern war and Ukrainian air defense transition to the Western systems?

The point is that Poland has modernized its Kub missile defense system for application

of RIM-7 Sea Sparrow missiles. In January 2023 it became known that these missiles

will be supplied to Ukraine and that they were probably integrated into the Buk SAM system.

Therefore one should not be prejudiced against the Buk. It is no longer what it used to be.

Meanwhile, Oryx reported more than 100 documented losses of Russian SAMs in Ukraine.

According to undocumented data, the losses are much higher.

But the important thing is that Russia has significantly lost the effectiveness of its

short and medium-range SAM systems over the year of war in Ukraine. It already had serious problems

with forming SAM echelons and providing complete airspace coverage, and now it's even worse.

There were quite a few white spots in Russian airspace, which become more and more with each

day, with each destroyed complex. And this is despite the fact that quite a

few Russian SAM systems are now concentrated in Ukraine and along the border with Ukraine.

But as we can see from a number of incidents, there are not enough. Recall the recent reports

of Ukrainian drones right above Moscow, they read the information they needed and calmly withdrew.

By the way, just an observation. Since February, the Russian occupiers have

been dramatically losing a lot more air defense systems in the war zone,

compared to losses from November 2022 to January 2023. It's interesting why there's

such activity and diligence in catching and eliminating SAM system components.