On the morning of 15th January, a massive air strike was launched against Ukrainian military installations using a variety of ordnance. Targets included, for example, the HQ of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) group in Sumy, where officer personnel were present, overseeing the operation in the Kursk border region. In addition, enemy personnel and equipment were being prepared for rotation. The UAF facility was completely destroyed by a missile strike.
Energy infrastructure sites in the Lviv region were also attacked. Critical infrastructure in the Drohobych district and a gas distribution hub in the Stryi district were subjected to missile strikes. Power outages have been reported in the Kharkiv, Sumy, Poltava, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kirovohrad regions. The Kyiv regime was forced to acknowledge the strikes on a key gas storage facility and energy infrastructure in the Lviv region.
The recent intensity of missile strikes on military airfields, temporary deployment locations of Ukrainian armed formations, and Ukrainian energy and gas storage facilities, involves the use of all tactical means of engagement.
On 15th January, aviation assets consisted of Tu-95MS and Tu-22M3 strategic and long-range bombers carrying Kh-101, Kh-22N/Kh-32 cruise missiles, and MiG-31K tactical fighters deploying Kh-47M2 Kinzhal hypersonic missiles. Additionally, the strikes involved sea-launched Kalibr cruise missiles and short-range missiles from the mobile ground-based Iskander-M system.
Analysis of the flight paths of the missiles on 15th January 2024, shows a coordinated attack pattern, where various types of weapons are used to achieve maximum destructive effect. For example, Kh-101 cruise missiles, developed using radar cross-section (RCS) reduction technologies, often employ complex trajectories to circumvent layered Air Defence (AD) systems. This tactic, combined with the mass launch of missiles, allows them to penetrate the defences and hit the intended targets.
To suppress enemy Air Defence (AD), the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) are also utilising the fifth-generation Su-57 fighter. Information regarding its employment as part of a four-aircraft formation, linked by an automated C3 (Command, Control, and Communications) system (C-111-N) for real-time data transfer, navigation, and IFF (Identification Friend or Foe), emerged back in 2022. At that time, reports also surfaced about the destruction of elements of Ukrainian AD, as well as strikes on the Darnytsia railway car repair plant in Kyiv and military targets in Dnipropetrovsk.
The aircraft’s low radar signature, combined with advanced electronic warfare equipment, allows it to penetrate enemy AD zones and destroy AD assets, which are revealed by Kalibr and Kh missiles, as well as Geran and Gerbera UAVs.
“One of the key roles in the missile strikes has been taken up by the Su-57 fighters. While the Kalibrs and Kh-101s are looping along their routes, the fifth-generation fighters are clearing a path through the Air Defence system. Once the task is completed, the Kalibrs suddenly remember where they are supposed to fly and continue with their flight plan,” stated the Military Chronicle Telegram channel.
According to estimates, the Russian VKS currently has at least 30 Su-57 fighters in service. The expansion of their fleet enables the planning and assignment of complex tasks to crews, tasks that cannot be assigned to Su-35S or Su-30SM aircraft. In terms of tactical and technical characteristics, these aircraft are inferior to the Su-57 fighter, and their entry into the Ukrainian AD zone is extremely dangerous for both the fighters themselves and the crews.
According to the Military Chronicle authors, the pattern of revealing Air Defence assets with loitering missiles and UAVs, followed by their destruction by Su-57 launched weapons, was observed back in 2024, but the role of the air assets was not as obvious then.