{"id":40283,"date":"2024-07-02T07:59:52","date_gmt":"2024-07-02T07:59:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/?p=40283"},"modified":"2024-07-02T07:59:58","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T07:59:58","slug":"ukrainian-air-base-under-frequent-fire-as-russia-aims-at-f-16-arrivals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/?p=40283","title":{"rendered":"Ukrainian air base under frequent fire as Russia aims at F-16 arrivals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reuters:   <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">STAROKOSTIANTYNIV, Ukraine, July 2 &#8211; Explosions reverberated across the pre-dawn sky as Ukrainian air defences fended off a Russian attack on this small city in western Ukraine, home to an important air base and a frequent target of Moscow&#8217;s strikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hours after the assault, the tidy streets of Starokostiantyniv had returned to a semblance of normality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the June 27 attack was a stark reminder of the challenges Kyiv faces as it rebuilds its depleted air force and deploys the first U.S.-designed F-16s &#8211; fighter aircraft that Russia will be determined to ground or destroy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The first planes are expected to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/europe\/f-16s-arrival-not-silver-bullet-ukraine-war-with-russia-2024-06-27\/\">arrive<\/a>&nbsp;this month, and Ukraine hopes they will boost forces struggling to repel a Russian onslaught along the front line, which includes devastating glide bombs that F-16s could potentially disrupt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Officials have not revealed where the F-16s will be based, but Moscow said after the strike on Starokostiantyniv last Thursday that it had targeted airfields it believed would house them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The air base has come under frequent attack since the first days of Russia&#8217;s February 2022&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/topic\/event\/ukraine-crisis\/\">invasion<\/a>, including from drones and hypersonic missiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Residents of this historic military outpost of around 30,000 people, nicknamed Starkon, in Ukraine&#8217;s Khmelnytskyi region have learned to adjust to the constant danger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;In short, it&#8217;s &#8216;fun&#8217; to live here,&#8221; said city official and local culture expert Vasyl Muliar with a wry smile, speaking after the recent attack.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reuters: STAROKOSTIANTYNIV, Ukraine, July 2 &#8211; Explosions reverberated across the pre-dawn sky as Ukrainian air defences fended off a Russian attack on this small city in western Ukraine, home to an important air base and a frequent target of Moscow&#8217;s strikes. Hours after the assault, the tidy streets of Starokostiantyniv had returned to a semblance of normality. But the June 27 attack was a stark reminder of the challenges Kyiv faces as it rebuilds its depleted air force and deploys the first U.S.-designed F-16s &#8211; fighter aircraft that Russia will be determined to ground or destroy. The first planes are&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40284,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-in-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40283"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40285,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40283\/revisions\/40285"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/40284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}