Ukraine’s speedy ex-French fighters have been on the defensive for an entire year. That may be changing. But are there enough bombs?
By David Axe
28/02/2026
Euromaidan Press
The Ukrainian air force is finally deploying its French-made Dassault Mirage 2000 fighters on bombing raids targeting Russian troops on the ground. It’s a welcome development, a year after France donated the first of—so far—a small handful of the nimble, supersonic jets.
Ground attacks with precision glide bombs can hit the the enemy where they’re weakest: in the wide logistical zone as far as 40 km behind the line of contact. That’s where regiments and brigades store their ammunition and fuel and muster their troops ahead of assaults across the no-man’s-land.
But there’s a big problem as Ukraine seemingly intensifies its strikes in this zone. A shortage of bombs.
The Russians understand the importance of striking the Ukrainians in the logistical zone, and have assigned their best drone teams and air force fighter regiments to relentlessly strike the zone. The Ukrainians have been slower to target the Russian logistical zone, however—instead directing their drone teams to hunt Russian infantry in the no-man’s-land while holding back air force fighter brigades for defensive air patrols over major cities.
A recent video depicting a Ukrainian Mirage 2000 lobbing a pair of French-made Hammer precision glide bombs is an indication the Ukrainians are finally beginning to shift more resources to strikes on Russian ammo and fuel depots and troop concentrations. To what extent the Ukrainians can escalate these strikes depends in large part on the supply of munitions.
Defensive fighters go on the offense
Until that video circulated online, there was no evidence the roughly half-dozen Mirages in Ukrainian service—out of around two dozen France may eventually donate—were doing anything but flying circles over the cities, trying to shoot down Russian cruise missiles with infrared- and radar-guided air-to-air missiles.
The Mirage 2000s’ shift to bombing raids has a precedent. For months after the first ex-European Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters arrived in Ukraine in August 2024, the American-designed fighters also stuck to defensive air patrols over cities. It wasn’t until the Ukrainian F-16 fleet had grown to a few dozen copies, out of 90 or so the Europeans have pledged, that some of the F-16s began flying bombing raids with American-made precision glide bombs.
The Ukrainians’ reluctance to deploy their best Western-made fighters for air-to-ground strikes isn’t without reason. For starters, offensive sorties are riskier than defensive sorties as pilots must fly much closer to Russian air defenses in order to close with their targets. Ukraine’s successful campaign of drone strikes targeting Russian air defenses near the front line may have mitigated that risk recently.
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There’s another, more vexing reason, however. The Russian air force can sustainably fling 100 glide bombs a day at the Ukrainian logistical zone because Russian industry churns out inexpensive KAB glide bombs at a rate of many thousands per month. By contrast, Ukraine continues to rely on comparatively paltry donations of American and French glide bombs for its own strikes on the Russian logistical zone.
France pledged to send Ukraine 50 Hammer glide bombs a month starting two years ago. It’s unclear whether that pledge has increased. The administration of former US Pres. Joe Biden gave Ukraine potentially thousands of glide bombs between 2023 and early 2025, but it’s far from clear whether the administration of Pres. Donald Trump has continued the supply.
To arm the Mirage 2000s and F-16s for the mission where they’d make the most difference, Ukraine needs precision glide bombs. Lots of them. Yes, an effort to develop a Ukrainian glide bomb went public in late 2024. But if that prototype has become a production munition, there’s no sign of it.
To match the Russians’ glide bombing campaign, the Ukrainians need thousands of glide bombs a month. It’s painfully unclear where they could come from.