it might be the most dangerous job in the world flyi
migs for Ukraine's Air force in skies where they're
outgunned and outnumbered by Russia's fighter jets.
Newsy sat down with a Ukrainian fighter pilot who ask
us to identify him by his call sign. Just it's my call
sign given to him by the american pilots who trained
him. How deadly has this war been for Ukraine's Air
force Unfortunately, we have a lot of losers during
this war actually due to our technical disadvantages,
my unit last few guys as well. During the first two
weeks, he says, sometimes one jet will act as a decoy
to attract Russian missiles. It's too dangerous. But we
need to to these types of missions. Of course our guys
are ready to die for that because they are supportin
their supporting our ground units on the front lines
just to secure uh attack jets on the altitudes. That
sounds like a suicide mission almost. Uh but of course
we are monitoring. So we are just trying to to create
some tricks against them and just to force them to
shoot these missiles from the largest distances. Until
recently, the role of Ukraine's Air Force has been
largely invisible. But this week it released a video
giving a rare look at a new potent weapon. Ukrainian
MIG 29 pilot shot footage of combat operations,
disclosing what had previously only been suspected that
Ukraine has adapted american high speed anti radiation
missiles known as harm missiles to fire from their
soviet Migs something no other air force in the world
has done fortunately. We we received the harm missiles
from the United States and we used them effectively to
uh, to destroy the ground based air defense sites of
the Russian troops and trying to penetrate them to
engage their ground troops and ground objects. At the
start of their country's counter offensive this week,
Ukrainians were captivated by a rare video on social
media of their fighter pilots firing missiles in the
skies over Kherson. It could be a sign of Ukraine's
success in taking out Russian air defenses, which unt
now have made front line air support missions too risky.
It's very dangerous for us because Russians
unfortunately have the great advantage in technologies
and in quantity, they have much more powerful radars,
much, much better missiles. Uh, they could shoot you
from a much larger distances. What's the most
frightening experience you've h in the air You're
trying to to find the cruise missile which is blank t
your to your city and you're not able to do that
Because of your radar, because of your systems on board.
And your understanding that it will kill people. Have
you been in dogfights No, actually, it's the 21st
century dogfights are very not not common. They're far
more likely to be shot out of the sky from afar by an
enemy that does not need to engage Close up superior
Russian technology allows them to target the Ukrainian
pilots from beyond visual range. A deadly technological
advantage with Ukrainian please, for Western jets
refused so far. Ukrainian fighter pilots took the rare
step of launching a public crowdsource campaign cal
Buy Me a fighter jet fighter jet. It will help me to
protect my sky, fill the Russian planes that bombed by
land, kill my friends and destroy our homes and
everything I have ever known. If we have modern fighter
jets will save more people, will save more cities, will
save more ground units and will win this war much
quicker. Will you shoot down more Russian jets
definitely. First of all, much more cruise missiles,
it's the U.S. Were to give you an F 15. How quickly
could you learn how to fly it Our estimated term is 3
to 6 months. A dream of a top gun whose fighter jet is
his entire life. Are you married You have Children No,
no, I'm single with no Children, I hope. Yeah, it's a
pretty usual fighter pilots and stuff. So nothing usual
about his mission though. Outgunned too few planes
flying on a wing and a prayer hoping to survive and
just maybe turn the tide of war. In the first day of
the counter offensive, Ukrainian officials say that
their air force launched 15 concentrated strikes in
different areas. This is clearly a new day for
Ukraine's Air Force, a much more prominent role than
they've had before. Chance and Jason we're hearing
today the Iaea inspectors, they made it to the town
of Zaporizhia, do we know how long the inspection is
going to take, what they're looking for The 14 member
team from the International Atomic Energy Agency set
out this morning from Kiev. Even though overnight las
night there was more shelling around the plant. Now
they've made it to zap forager, that's the city that's
near the plant and they're Overnighting there. The
is for them to set foot on the plant's campus tomo
The head of the mission says that they're going to be
there for a few days and they're actually hoping to
establish a permanent presence there but that's not
been agreed to by the Russians yet. He said he's
brought along the best and the brightest when it comes
to nuclear safety and security. And he said go in there
is not risk free but something that they need to do,
assuming they successfully acce the plan. The next
question will they get full access tonight Ukraine's
intelligence ministry posted on telegram, the
accusation that Russia is forcing employees of the
plant to create the picture that the Kremlin wants the
Iaea to see. And they said that some workers to the
Russians didn't trust have gone missing chance,
Everyone's anxious to hear what they find, what they're
allowed to see. Jason bellini tonight in Ukraine than