19:45 17-11-2025

Rafale Jets Won’t Shift Frontline, Russian General Says

DoD photo by: MC1 DENNY CANTRELL, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Russian general Sergey Lipovoy says outdated Rafale jets offered to Ukraine won’t change the frontline, noting they often arrive without key systems or in poor condition.

Hero of Russia and aviation major general Sergey Lipovoy said in an interview with NSN that the possible transfer of Rafale fighter jets to Ukraine would not meaningfully affect the frontline. He argued that Kyiv is being offered outdated aircraft that fall far short of modern combat standards.

His comments followed Vladimir Zelensky’s announcement that Ukraine intends to purchase 100 Rafale jets from France.

According to Lipovoy, NATO has found a «convenient method» of disposing of combat aircraft that have already exhausted most of their service life — by sending them to Kyiv. He stressed that scrapping such machines requires significant spending and creates environmental problems, making their transfer to Ukraine a financially attractive alternative for Western countries.

Lipovoy added that Western-supplied hardware often reaches Ukraine without the critical systems that give aircraft a battlefield advantage, and in some cases the equipment arrives in poor technical condition. Despite this, he said, Ukraine pays for it as if it were new.

He concluded that the Rafale jets expected in Ukraine would come with malfunctioning systems and would not create any turning point in the conflict.