This is the cockpit view as Ukrainian fighter pilot OSHA
fires missiles from his big fighter jet aviators like
him. He's 29 take extraordinary risks battling th
Russians in jets older than himself. How many combat
missions have you been on since the start of the
invasion I have 77 combat mission, 77 combat missi
One of those missions made him a Ukrainian hero who
goes by the call sign Kaa in October took to the skies
after a radar detected near the central city of Nico
Shahe suicide drones like this one. Harris orders,
search and destroy. You have to see them to destroy
them. Our on board radar system does not allow us to
effectively destroy them. We need visual contact with
them but destroy them. He did five confirmed kills but
at such close range debris from the fifth drone smashed
into both his engines. The plane began to destruct a
fire broke out in the cabin. My ability to control th
plane was lost. He aimed his crashing MG at an open
field away from a village and then ejected at the last
possible moment. Recording this video as he parachuted,
there was plenty of time because I was flying from a
height of about 4000 ft. I took this photo to check my
health because I was bleeding. And secondly, to
reassure my comrades who were worried about me whether
I was alive. Ukraine's presiden named him a hero of
Ukraine. Now as his country battles for the contest
legendary city of Baku and prepares for a counter
offensive pilots like Kaia take off on even more high
risk missions. Sorties flown just 65 ft above the
surface to duck. Enemy radar cry shared with Scripps
news, rarely seen footage that he recorded in his
cockpit right now in Bak mod. Are you able to offer any
kind of air cover to your troops on the ground There we
do go there like the enemy. We understand very well
that entering the air defense zone means there's a high
chance being destroyed. We do work in the zone covered
by their anti aircraft defenses at extremely low
altitudes flying at the lowest safe height above the
train. We're able to get close to the front line. We
not only risk their air defenses and aircraft firing at
us but also the banal risk of running into ground
obstacles such as power transmission lines. But our
pilots are all experienced and know how to do this job.
Says Russian pilots with their more advanced technology
can attack from further away and take fewer risks. He
says a Russian pilot flying an S 2 37 spots him on
radar from more than 125 miles away. Whereas his mig
can detect from around 45 miles. Some Russian rockets
can hit targets from those 125 miles though, the ones
they typically fire have a range of around 50 miles.
Ukraine's rockets. What are you I won't divulge the
specific figure, but it's almost half that. So flying
low, the danger high is the only option. You must get
nervous when you're taking off to go on one of those
missions. Of course, during the preparation for the
mission, but this nervousness is controlled. It does
not turn to panic from the moment you press the button
to start the play. It all disappears because the task
is ahead and you need to be completely focused on it.
Ukrainian Air Force officials try to focus the public's
attention on their highest health, getting the US to
provide them with F-16s currently, it's impossible to
resolve the problem of the war with M 29 aircraft. Wait,
wait, wait, hold on one second. So you're saying you
can't win the war without the F-16s, we cannot win the
war without air superiority. We need to establish
parity in the sky. That is, we need to have the means
to repel Russian aircraft, the need to repel them
becoming more urgent. Ukraine's air force spokesman
says due to a newly emerging capability, Russ
warplanes releasing bombs that don't simply drop. They
fly today, they are using its aerial bumps against us.
This is a bomb that flies 72 or more kilometers. Th
around 45 miles. The edge of the MIGS radar range, an
F-16s radar can spot enemy planes 184 miles away. With
that in mind, Ukraine's air force rotates pilots out of
the sky for of all things English lessons. Why rig
now in the middle of the war are you studying Englis
We are waiting for Western fighters. We have great hope
in our Western partners that we will receive them.
After all, this is exactly what will help us speed up
the victory. What's more difficult learning English or
learning to fly a fighter jet in my M 29 I feel that's
my uh place. Now when I sit on the English lessons, I
don't control all situation. The gulf between an F-16
and AM 29 is like that between a New Ferrari and an ol
Ford escort. The M 29 is a fairly old Soviet machine
where everything is completely analog devices and a
huge number of toggle switches in the F-16 cabin,
everything is optimized. And as we say, everything is
made for people will you need to leave the country to
learn how to fly them. If you were to get the Western
fighter jets, it is necessary for training on these
fighters. And that is why we selected a certain number
of pilots who work in parallel, learn the language in
parallel and can be sent for retraining. Do you have a
simulator that you can train on Yes, of course. We have
mobile simulators V R glasses and everyone tries to
spend as much time as possible with these simulato
Us officials say they have no plans to provide Ukraine
with F-16s. So for now all Ukrainian pilots can do is
make two. Have you ever been on a mission where one of
the planes didn't come back Yes, I have been. It was
last April. We were in the sym area where the enemy was
accumulating large strike group during one of the
missions, our S U 24 bomber aircraft did not return
from the mission. He was shot down the same with S E 25
planes and helicopters. What's it like when you've
landed and you're getting out of your M 29 knowing that
you've lost one of your comrades No, of course, we all
felt despair when we were on the ground. You see, we
have enough defense skills and competencies, but the
technical obsolescence of our aircraft does not allow
us to fully protect our colleagues from other types of
aviation. If you had an F-16, you think you could have
protected that bomber doug. But yes and very
effectively after surviving whe his plane didn't back
in October Caro called his wife from the hospital. What
did she say I made a video call, the face was bandag
I said everything is fine. Everything is all right. She
cried and that was it. After that your wife didn't say
no more fighter jets free. Yeah, she fully incomplet
supports me. But she told me please take care of
yourself. I said, of course I won't protect myself, but
she fully understands that ther is a war in our
country and we need to work. We've been preparing for
this all our lives in order to protect our country an
now is the time to do it. Jason joins us tonight from
Kiev. Jason, you talked about this emerging threat from
Russia guided aerial bombs. Wha do we know about those
bombs and also what Ukraine's Air Force can do about
them Well, chance the weaponry continues to evolve. N
Russia has not been able to use its bombers and to drop
bombs from the sky because of Ukraine's air defens
Well, that's changing. The Russians have figured out a
way to get bombs that would normally just fall downwa
to go on an angle to be guided towards targets that
about 45 miles away. And as a result, they're of the
range of the Ukrainian fighter jets and this presents a
real threat because, you know, the Russians have plenty
of bombs. They haven't gone into their stores of bombs.
They, by some accounts have gone through a lot of their
cruise missiles and may be running low on those and
what I'm also being told is that these types of bombs,
they're really difficult to sho out of the sky. What
they really need to do is to shoot the planes out of
the sky, the bombers out of the sky and they lack the
capabilities to do that. Curren if they were to get
F-16s, that could help, perhaps they will be helped by
getting these Patriot missiles and the first Patriot
missile battery has arrived here, but that's not going
to cover the entire sky. They're not telling us of
course, where they're going to put that battery. But
it's a new challenge for the Ukrainians if these begin
to be used by the Russians in large numbers. Yeah
sounds like so many threats to think about and, and
contend with. But in the meantime, we keep hearing
about this spring offensive. It's spring time. Now, is
this coming Well, the predictions are and what you
heard people from the Ukrainian government saying is
that it could happen at the end of this month. So
really just in the next couple of weeks, but it may
also take longer for them to prepare for this. This is
really going to be a big deal when it's launched. And I
think it really is a matter of when not if and they're
waiting on more Western weapons to come, they need to
refill their stocks of shells of rockets, all those
things and to get more tanks. So will they hold out
until they get more of those or will they go for it We
just don't know, but everyone is standing by to see
what happens because this could really determine the
future course of this war and perhaps even the outcome
of this war. Chance the quiet build up continues the
timing as yet unknown Jason Bellini reporting tonight
from the heart of K. Thank you.