More than a month since the Russian invasion of his country, a Ukrainian MiG-29 pilot whose call sign is “Juice” says he no longer feels nervous when he steps into the cockpit.
He has accepted that each mission could be his last and that the odds are against the underdog Ukrainian Air Force.
“It’s almost a one-way ticket to fight [Russian] fighters,” he said in an interview with The Washington Times. “It’s very difficult. We are ready to die in the fight. We don’t want to die. But if we have to, we want to be effective before we die.”
His account of the brutal air war against a better-armed Russian Air Force underscored Ukraine leaders’ pleas for more help from the West.
Outgunned and outnumbered, the world has looked on in awe as Ukraine’s Air Force continues to pose a formidable threat to Russia in the sky above Ukraine. Military analysts expected Russia to quickly defeat Ukraine’s air defenses, allowing them to gain a decisive advantage and quickly end the war.
Ukrainian forces claimed to have destroyed nearly 150 aircraft since the war began, and Russia has yet to claim complete air superiority despite fielding far superior fighters.
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Juice and his fellow pilot “Moon Fish” both requested not to be identified by name for fear of Russian retaliation against their families.
They told The Times that what the Ukrainian Air Force lacks in aircraft and weapon systems, their pilots and ground crews make up for with sheer will and ironclad determination.
“We are fighting for the right stuff,” Moon Fish said in the same interview. “We’re watching the horrors they are doing to civilians in the cities they have captured and that makes us think there is no other option other than to win this war.”
Still, both said these intangibles have their limits.
Beyond the sheer size of the Russian air force compared to Ukraine’s, Juice and Moon Fish said their country’s MiG-29s are no match for state-of-the-art Russian Su-27s and Su-35s.
“It’s about radar and air-to-air missiles,” Juice said. “We have a principal disadvantage because we have very old and not very capable radar.”
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Russian fighters carry active-radar or “fire and forget” air-to-air missiles, he said, which allow their fighters to change course immediately after firing on enemy aircraft. Ukrainian MiG-29s carry semi-autonomous missiles that require the pilot to remain locked on the target.
“It’s almost a suicide mission to evade their missile and try to shoot them,” he said. “Against their bombers and their strikers, it’s okay, but not against their fighters.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pleaded with Western allies to help Ukraine battle Russia’s bombardment of his country with a NATO-enforced no-fly zone and fighter jets to protect Ukraine’s skies.
The West responded with proposals to send Soviet-era systems that Ukraine already uses so that the weapons can be fielded quickly without any additional training.
Last month, Poland offered to supply Ukraine with additional MiG-29s to be transshipped through a U.S. military base in Germany.
While the offer would not help Ukraine’s airfare overcome the technology gap, Juice said additional aircraft are sorely needed.
“Of course, we need them,” juice said of the additional MiG-29s. “For primary interception, for primary air defense against bombers, against other attackers, other strikers, they are pretty effective.”
Eventually, however, the Ukrainian Air Force will need to field more advanced aircraft to win the war, Moon Fish said.
“The ultimate tool to win the war in the sky and create better chances of winning on the ground would be obtaining one or two squadrons of any western aircraft: F-15 or F-16s,” he said.
“We need something to gain real air superiority against the fighters,” Juice said. “That’s why we need fighters with advanced radars and other advanced sensors, most importantly with active radar missiles.”
This may prove to be a bridge too far for NATO countries who remain skittish about handing over certain advanced weapons to Ukraine and fear being drawn into direct war with Moscow.
The Biden administration scuttled the Polish offer, saying the transfer of MiGs was “not feasible” as structured and could provoke a wider conflict with Russia.
“I do realize why Western politicians are thinking twice before handing us weapons,” Moon Fish said. “But I think the important thing to realize is that we’re fighting against the threat and danger to entire humanity right now and the sooner we win the sooner the threat will be eliminated.”
Meanwhile, they said, the tragedies continue to mount.
On Tuesday, Juice’s unit held a funeral for a pilot that was shot down and whose body remains behind enemy lines until it could be recovered.
“We are very familiar with loss. We are very familiar with funerals,” he said. “We are still keeping morale high to do our job. Unfortunately, there is no war without losses.”
• Joseph Clark can be reached at jclark@washingtontimes.com.
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