Every war the Russian Aerospace Forces and their predecessors have fought
The Second World War, Korea and Afghanistan belong to the Soviet Air Forces, the predecessor, and are listed as such. Russia publishes no losses for the war against Ukraine: every figure there is attributed, either to the Ukrainian General Staff or to Oryx, which counts only losses confirmed by photographs or video. Where a consolidated sortie or loss figure exists in the official record it is given here; where accounts disagree, the range is shown and the disagreement named. Blank cells are blank because no figure could be verified, not because the fighting was small.
From the Second World War to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special military operation”.
| Conflicto | Años | Contra | Avión principal | Salidas | Avión perdido | |
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| The Second World War (Great Patriotic War)Soviet Air Forces, 1941–1945Soviet Air Forces (predecessor) | 1941–1945 | Germany, Finland, Romania, Hungary, Italy and Japan | Yak-1, Il-2, La-5y 1 más | |||
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The Soviet Air Forces fought the Luftwaffe from the first morning of the German invasion to Berlin. Only context for the Russian service. Caught on the ground on 22 June 1941, the Soviet Air Forces lost thousands of aircraft within days, then rebuilt on an industrial scale: some 157,261 aircraft were produced during the war, 125,655 of them combat types. By 1944 they dominated the Eastern Front with types such as the Il-2 and the Yak and Lavochkin fighters. Resultado Victory in Europe on 9 May 1945 (Moscow time). Loss figures for 1941 are estimates quoted by Wikipedia; comprehensive loss totals were not verified for this page.
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| La guerra de Corea64th Fighter Aviation CorpsSoviet Air Forces (predecessor) | 1950–1953 | Comando de las Naciones Unidas | MiG-15 | |||
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Soviet MiG-15 regiments of the 64th Fighter Aviation Corps secretly defended North Korea and the Yalu bridges against UN aircraft. The Soviet Union never admitted its role at the time. Wikipedia says twelve fighter divisions rotated through the 64th Fighter Aviation Corps against US and allied aircraft. Resultado Armisticio del 27 de julio de 1953. Claims and losses from both sides were not verified and are left out.
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| The Soviet war in Afghanistan34th Mixed Aviation CorpsSoviet Air Forces (predecessor) | 1979–1989 | muyahidines afganos | Su-25, MiG-23, Su-17y 2 más | |||
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Supported the 40th Army with fighter-bombers, attack aircraft, bombers and helicopters. The 34th Mixed Aviation Corps backed the 40th Army for nearly ten years. Resultado Soviet withdrawal completed in February 1989. Loss figures were not verified. |
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| The war in AbkhaziaGeorgian–Abkhaz warRussian Air Force | 1992–1993 | Georgia | Su-27, Su-25, Mi-8 | |||
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Russian aircraft struck Georgian positions and Sukhumi; Russia’s government denied direct involvement at the time. Russia’s role in the Abkhaz war was officially denied. Defence Minister Pavel Grachev claimed that Georgian Su-25s painted with Russian markings had bombed Sukhumi; Georgia said the raids were Russian, and after the Su-27 was shot down on 19 March 1993 a UN military observer confirmed the aircraft and its pilot were Russian. On 5 April 1993 two Russian Su-25s attacked Georgian artillery near Sukhumi, which Russian commanders said was retaliation for shelling of a Russian military laboratory at Eshera. Resultado Georgian forces were driven from Abkhazia in September 1993. Russian involvement is contested; figures here are attributed.
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| The first Chechen warRussian Air Force | 1994–1996 | Chechen Republic of Ichkeria | Su-24, Su-25, Su-17M3/M4y 2 más | |||
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Bombed Grozny and Chechen villages from 1 December 1994; attack helicopters supported ground forces. The air campaign began with raids on 1 December 1994, ten days before the ground invasion, and reached its peak over Grozny that winter. Estimates of civilian deaths from all causes in the war range from about 27,000 in the first five weeks (Sergei Kovalev, Yeltsin’s human rights adviser) to 50,000 (Memorial) or more, and a cluster-bomb attack on Shali on 3 January 1995 killed at least 55 civilians. On 21 April 1996 the Chechen leader Dzhokhar Dudayev was killed by a Russian guided missile. Resultado The war ended on 31 August 1996; Russian forces withdrew. Civilian casualty figures cover all causes, not air strikes alone, and vary widely by source.
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| The second Chechen warincluding the 1999 Dagestan fightingRussian Air Force | 1999–2009 | Chechen separatist and Islamist fighters | Su-24, Su-25, Mi-24y 3 más | |||
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Air strikes from 26 August 1999, first against fighters who had entered Dagestan, then across Chechnya. The second war opened with a heavy air campaign. By 2 October 1999 Russia’s emergencies ministry counted 78,000 people who had fled the air strikes. Human Rights Watch criticised the use of fuel-air explosives, and incidents such as the cluster-bomb raid on Elistanzhi on 7 October 1999 (some 35 killed) and the bombardment of Katyr-Yurt in February 2000 drew heavy criticism. The Ka-50 fired its first shots in combat here on 6 January 2001. Resultado Main phase to April 2000; the counter-terrorism operation ended on 16 April 2009. Loss figures are partial.
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| The Russo-Georgian warthe August warRussian Air Force | 2008 | Georgia | Su-25, Su-24, Tu-22M3 | |||
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Struck Georgian forces, airfields and radar sites from 8 August, including Gori, Vaziani, Marneuli, Senaki and Kopitnari. The Russian Air Force began raiding South Ossetia and Georgia after 10:00 on 8 August, but after early losses to Georgian air defences it suspended sorties for two days. Strikes hit military and civilian targets, including apartment buildings and Tbilisi airport, according to sources cited by Wikipedia. The losses — including a Tu-22M3 reconnaissance bomber — prompted the comprehensive reforms of 2008–2009. Resultado Fighting ended on 12 August 2008. Loss figures differ between Russian officials, CAST and Georgia.
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| The Russian intervention in SyriaKhmeimimRussian Aerospace Forces | 2015–2024 | Islamic State, Syrian opposition groups and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham | Su-24M, Su-25SM, Su-30SMand 8 more | |||
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Air campaign in support of the Assad government against the Islamic State and rebel groups, flown mainly from Khmeimim. The intervention began on 30 September 2015. Bombers flew from Russia to launch cruise missiles, and many new types saw their first combat. Turkey said the Su-24M it shot down on 24 November 2015 had violated its airspace for 17 seconds after ten warnings; Russia said the jet never left Syrian airspace. The pilot, Oleg Peshkov, was killed by ground fire after ejecting, and a marine was killed in the rescue. When Syrian S-200s shot down an Il-20M in 2018, Russia first blamed Israeli F-16s; President Putin called it "a chain of unfortunate circumstances". The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights attributes 8,763 civilian deaths to Russian operations. After Assad’s fall Russia kept Khmeimim while it negotiated with the new government; in August 2026 the two sides agreed the airport would return to Syrian civilian control within three months. Resultado Assad fell on 8 December 2024; Russia began withdrawing. Syria announced on 9 August 2026 that Hmeimim airport would pass to civilian administration. Sortie counts are Russian claims; civilian death figures are from SOHR.
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| The Wagner Group rebellionRussian Aerospace Forces | 2023 | Wagner Group | Il-22M, Mi-8 variants, Ka-52 | |||
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Aircraft and helicopters attacked Wagner columns advancing on Moscow; several were shot down. On 24 June 2023 VKS aircraft and helicopters attacked the Wagner Group’s columns as they advanced towards Moscow, and several were shot down. The commander-in-chief, Army General Sergey Surovikin, was removed afterwards and Viktor Afzalov was named acting commander-in-chief on 23 August 2023. Resultado The rebellion ended the same day. Casualty figures are estimates from bloggers, British intelligence and Janes.
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| The Russian invasion of UkraineRusso-Ukrainian warRussian Aerospace Forces | 2022– | Ucrania | Su-34, Su-35S, Su-30SMand 9 more | |||
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Strikes, close air support, glide bombing and cruise-missile attacks; the VKS has never won air superiority. Russia committed about 300 combat aircraft on 24 February 2022, in what it calls a "special military operation". Early strikes failed to destroy Ukraine’s air defences, and losses of low-flying jets and helicopters pushed the VKS back to stand-off tactics. From 2023 Su-34s and Su-35s dropped glide bombs fitted with UMPK kits from outside Ukrainian missile range, and bombers fired cruise missiles, including at energy infrastructure — for which the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant on 5 March 2024 against Sergey Kobylash, then commander of Long-Range Aviation. Ukraine shot down two A-50Us in January and February 2024 and has repeatedly struck VKS bases, most spectacularly in Operation Spiderweb on 1 June 2025: Ukraine’s SBU claimed 41 aircraft hit, US officials quoted by Reuters said about 20 hit and 10 destroyed, and satellite analyses counted 12–13 or more destroyed; the Russian Ministry of Defence called it a "terrorist attack" and confirmed damage at Olenya and Belaya. The war dates back to 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea, which the UN General Assembly (resolution 68/262) and most states consider part of Ukraine. Resultado En curso. All loss figures are one side’s claims or open-source counts and are attributed; no official Russian figures exist.
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No se encontraron coincidencias con esa búsqueda.
Cada cifra, verificada
- SANA: Syria-Russia memorandum on Hmeimim airport (9 August 2026)Hmeimim airport to pass to civilian administration within three months.
- Ukrinform: Russian forces lose another 1,470 troops (30 September 2026), citing the Ukrainian General StaffUkrainian claim: 443 aircraft and 356 helicopters since 24 February 2022.
- Oryx: Attack on Europe — documenting Russian equipment lossesVisually confirmed losses only. The aircraft section could not be read in full; per-type Oryx figures are taken as cited on Wikipedia type pages.
Cifras verificadas el 30 de septiembre de 2026. Back to the Russian Aerospace Forces.