'They didn't expect us.' Su-24M navigator on how Russia helped Ukraine's air force

Russians didn't expect Ukrainian resistance and believed their command's claims about destroying Ukraine's air force, which greatly helped the Ukrainian Air Force's operations, according to Su-24M navigator and Hero of Ukraine Lieutenant Colonel Serhiy Verbytskyi in an interview with LIGA.net.

"In the first week, Russians were so unprepared for our aircraft that they drove in columns and stopped, getting out of their vehicles. You could literally see them from the plane: here are the vehicles, here's the personnel – just do your job. We see them, drop bombs – and they're gone," he noted.

During the first combat mission after the full-scale invasion began, his crew was tasked with attacking Hostomel airfield, where Russian paratroopers had already landed.

"We approached the airport and saw the Russian paratroopers. Many soldiers. We understood that if we were given this target – it definitely wasn't our infantry there. They didn't expect to see us at all, as I understood. They started running, trying to hide. But they didn't manage – we completed our mission while they were still running," he said.

Immediately after completing the mission, the pilots had to evade Russian fighters. "Our fighters needed time to adjust a bit and learn to shoot them down smartly," the Air Force officer added.

Later, the occupiers became wiser. They drew conclusions and began to move more secretly in smaller columns to avoid air strikes, he said.

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