By Dan Peleschuk
STAROKOSTIANTYNIV, Ukraine (Reuters) – Explosions echoed across the pre-dawn sky as Ukrainian air defences repelled a Russian attack on this small town in western Ukraine, home to a major air base and a frequent target of Moscow’s strikes.
Hours after the assault, the clean streets of Starokostiantyniv had returned to a semblance of normality.
But the June 27 attack was a stark reminder of the challenges facing kyiv as it rebuilds its ailing air force and deploys the first U.S.-designed F-16s — fighter jets that Russia will be determined to ground or destroy.
The first planes are expected to arrive this month, and Ukraine hopes they will help bolster forces struggling to repel a front-line Russian attack that includes devastating glide bombs that F-16s could potentially disrupt.
Officials have not revealed where the F-16s will be based, but Moscow said after the attack on Starokostiantyniv last Thursday that it had targeted airfields it believed would host them.
The airbase has been the target of frequent attacks since the early days of the Russian invasion in February 2022, including with drones and hypersonic missiles.
The residents of this historic military outpost of around 30,000 people, nicknamed Starkon, in Ukraine’s Khmelnytskyi region have learned to adapt to constant danger.
“In short, it’s ‘fun’ to live here,” said municipal official and local culture expert Vasyl Muliar with a wry smile, speaking after the recent attack.
A Ukrainian air force spokesman said the strikes presented “certain difficulties” but would not undermine the delivery of the F-16s or their use in battle.
Officials remain tight-lipped about details of attacks on targets such as military bases and critical infrastructure.
Military analysts said the Russians were likely targeting airbase infrastructure such as runways and storage facilities to make it difficult for the F-16s and, when they arrive, Western jets to take off.
The Ukrainian military, which lacks air defence munitions, will also likely be forced to move precious aircraft around airfields, said Justin Bronk of the Royal United Services Institute.
“Any ground-based air defense coverage can be saturated if the Russians care enough to fire enough missiles at a target,” he said.
DEBRIS IN THE CHERRY TREES
Following the attack last Thursday, Governor Sergey Tyurin said that air defences had destroyed nine targets in his region. Shortly before, the air force had warned residents that drones were heading towards Starokostiantyniv.
Local residents, careful not to divulge what could be considered sensitive military information, described living under the threat of attack and amid the frequent roar of Ukrainian warplanes overhead.
Iryna Sapchuk, editor-in-chief of local newspaper Our City, said her parents’ home had been targeted in an earlier raid, damaging the roof and shed.
“They found the remains of a missile in a cherry tree next to the window,” he added.
As in many other cities and towns in Ukraine, people seemed eager to project a sense of resilience despite the danger of war and the inconvenience of frequent power cuts caused by Russian attacks on the energy system.
Roadworks continued as planes sped overhead, while families and groups of teenagers cooled off at the local beach.
When traveling in Ukraine, Sapchuk said, he finds it difficult to live without the noise of airplanes.
“It’s too quiet for me,” he joked, adding that the sound had become a reassuring sign that the outnumbered Ukrainian pilots were fighting back.
Muliar, the local official, highlighted the town’s history as a 16th-century bastion of defence and, hundreds of years later, a key nerve centre for independence fighters in the fledgling Ukrainian People’s Republic after World War I.
“This was always a center of resistance.”