Russian Su-35S aircraft
TASS news agency on February 8 quoted a spokesman for Russia's state corporation Rostec as saying that the effective range of the country's Su-35 and MiG-31 aircraft is "many times larger" than that of the Mirage 2000, the aircraft model Ukraine just received from France.
"The Mirage 2000 is an outdated aircraft, not much different from the F-16 in terms of flight and technical characteristics. It is significantly inferior to modern Russian aircraft," the corporation said.
Accordingly, the effective operating range against aerial targets such as fighters of the Mirage 2000 aircraft is estimated to be a maximum of 50 km, while this figure for Su-35S, Su-35SM2 or MiG-31 aircraft is several hundred km.
Ukraine's new bomber UAV: flies nearly 2,000km with 250kg bomb
Rostec believes that, like the F-16, the Mirage 2000 fighter jet could be used by the Ukrainian military as a fighter jet far behind the front lines. The corporation claims that the Mirage 2000 would be quickly shot down if the Ukrainian military tried to use it for air combat or bombing near the front lines.
Ukraine and Dassault Aviation - the manufacturer of the Mirage 2000 - did not immediately comment.
Earlier on February 6, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry announced that the country had received the first batch of Mirage 2000 fighter jets from France as well as F-16 fighter jets (made in the US) from the Netherlands.
French officials have refused to specify the number of Mirage 2000s they have supplied to Ukraine, citing security concerns, although they have said the planes have been modified to carry out air-to-ground attacks. Of the 26 Mirage 2000s in the French Air Force, six will be delivered to Ukraine, according to a report by the French parliament late last year.
Conflicting information about the town of Toretsk
Russia's Defense Ministry said its forces had taken control of the town of Toretsk in eastern Ukraine, but the Ukrainian military denied this and said heavy fighting was taking place there and nearby.
Toretsk had a pre-war population of about 30,000 and was known to Russia by its former Soviet name of Dzerzhinsk.
See images of the strategic town of Toretsk that Russia claims to have just captured
Russian forces are now focused on taking control of Donbass, which includes the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. Toretsk is one of the focal points of the offensive, along with other logistics hubs such as Kramatorsk and Kostyantynivka in the northwest and Pokrovsk further west.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian army said Russian forces carried out 10 attacks on Ukrainian positions in the Toretsk region.
Control of Toretsk, a high ground, could allow Russian forces to complicate logistics for Ukrainian forces in much of the east, Ukrainian military analysts say.
This would also allow Russian forces to advance northwest, towards the regional logistics hub of Kostiantynivka, which connects to a number of important areas.
US-Ukraine Summit and Minerals
US President Donald Trump said he may meet his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky next week to discuss the conflict in Kyiv.
"I'll probably meet with President Zelensky next week. And I'll probably talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin. I want to end this senseless war. There have been 800,000 to 900,000 Russian soldiers killed or seriously wounded, while the number on the Ukrainian side is 700,000 people," Reuters quoted Mr. Trump as saying at the White House on February 7.
Ukrainian President: 'Let's make a deal' with Trump on resource sharing
According to Reuters, President Trump did not specify whether the meeting would be in person or online. When asked where such a meeting would take place, Mr. Trump said: "I'm still here." He affirmed that he would not go to Ukraine.
The US leader said he wanted to talk to President Zelensky about the security of Ukrainian assets such as “rare earth” minerals and wanted “an equivalent amount” in exchange for US assistance. “We want balance,” Trump said.
See also: Mr. Trump may meet Mr. Zelensky next week, Ukraine is ready
Regarding the issue of resources, the Ukrainska Pravda website on February 8 quoted President Zelensky as saying that Russia had obtained trillions of dollars in resources and that if the ceasefire with the provision that Ukraine does not take back the relevant territories, Russia will be able to use those resources to prepare for a new war.
In an interview with Reuters, Mr. Zelensky said that Russia had taken less than 20% of the mineral resources, but Ukraine still needed support to protect the rest.
"We need to stop (President) Putin and protect what we have. There are significant resources in the Dnipro region, in central Ukraine and in the west. Unfortunately, we lost coal, but I know they also lost a lot because they did not know how to manage the mines and ended up flooding many of them," the leader said.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/chien-su-ukraine-ngay-1081-rostec-nga-che-may-bay-mirage-2000-ukraine-lo-ve-khoang-san-185250208194753394.htm
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