In the early morning of Friday local time in Ukraine, the Russian army once again launched an air raid on Lviv Oblast in western Ukraine, and the target of this air raid was the "heart meat" of the Ukrainian Air Force - Lviv State Aircraft Repair Plant. The plant is currently the largest large aircraft repair plant in the Ukrainian Air Force and the only one in Ukraine that can provide overhaul services for the MiG-29 fighter jets of the Ukrainian Air Force.
Although the Ukrainian side claimed to have successfully intercepted two of the incoming Russian cruise missiles, from the latest satellite photos, it appears that two large factory buildings of the Lviv State Aircraft Repair Plant were completely destroyed by Russian cruise missiles. While a large number of MiG-23 fighter jets parked on the runway of the Lviv State Aircraft Repair Plant are still well preserved, it is clear that they are not the main targets of the Russian army.
The Lviv State Aircraft Repair Plant before the bombing
Damage caused by Russian airstrikes
According to Ukrainian government forces, the two Russian cruise missiles they successfully intercepted were fired from the direction of the Black Sea. Then the air strike may be launched by the Russian Air Force's air-launched cruise missiles, or it may be the Russian Navy's "caliber" cruise missiles. However, considering that the previous air raid on the foreign mercenary camp in Lviv was a "caliber" cruise missile, the Russian military's air strike this time has a high probability that the Russian Navy launched it.
Russian airstrikes on the Lviv State Aircraft Repair Plant were clearly intended to "demilitarize" Ukraine. In the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian negotiations, the Russian side proposed that the Ukrainian side could continue to maintain its army, but its military strength and national defense attitude should be changed, and it is best to become a "military neutral country" and retain only a limited military strength. The best way to get Ukraine to accede to this demand is to directly destroy Ukraine's main military industry. Before the Russian air raid on the Lviv State Aircraft Repair Plant, the Ukrainian "Dawn - Machine Design" gas turbine research and production consortium of Ukraine's "Dawn - Machine Design" was also attacked and destroyed by the Russian army.
After destroying Ukraine's important military industry, If Ukraine wants to maintain a strong military, it can only rely on the United States and NATO to provide it with large-scale military assistance. Although in this way, the equipment of the Ukrainian government army will be "Europeanized". But that means Ukraine can no longer afford to support its own equipment and upgrade it.
Because international sales of MiG-29 fighter jets are not good, ukraine is currently the only country in the world with the ability to overhaul MiG-29 fighter jets in addition to Russia. After the Lviv State Aircraft Repair Plant was paralyzed by Russian air strikes, in addition to the Ukrainian Air Force's own MiG-29 fighters could not be overhauled, other Eastern European countries equipped with MiG-29 fighters can only find Russia if they want to overhaul.
Of course, the scope of Russian air strikes is constantly expanding. In the case of Lviv Oblast, because it directly borders Poland, foreign mercenaries and European and American arms and ammunition are basically dispersed through Lviv Oblast to other parts of Ukraine. Moreover, the Russian army has previously said that it will continue to carry out air raids on foreign mercenaries and European and American weapons and ammunition to aid Ukraine, and Lviv Oblast has obviously become the focus of Russian air raids.
Even if the Russo-Ukrainian war ends in a short period of time, judging from the current losses suffered by the Ukrainian government forces, after the war, the military level of the Ukrainian government forces will decline to a relatively low level.
Image source network, intrusion and deletion.