Russian Fighter Jets Slaughtering Burmese People

                  (Staff article from the ALJAZEERA NEWS on 30 July 2022.)

Myanmar used Russian-made aircraft in civilian attacks: Myanmar Witness says open-source investigation shows Yak-130 being equipped with rockets and cannons attacking ground positions. The Myanmar military has been accused of using Russian-made Yak-130 aircraft with ground attack capability against civilians, as it seeks to stamp out opposition to its rule.

Myanmar Witness, a London-based group that collects evidence of rights abuses in Myanmar, says it was able to verify open-source investigations on several occasions in which unguided rockets and 23mm cannons had been used in built-up areas.

“Myanmar Witness has verified the repeated deployment of the Yak-130 – a sophisticated, Russian manufactured, two-seat jet trainer with a documented ground attack capability – in Myanmar,” Myanmar Witness said in its report, which was released on Friday. “During this investigation, credible reports and geolocation have revealed the use of the Yak-130 within populated, civilian areas.”

Among the more recent incidents, video shared on Facebook last month showed at least one Yak-130 performing two passes and launching several salvos of unguided rockets towards the ground. A second video showed at least one Yak-130 performing at least five passes and firing about 18 salvos of unguided rockets.

The attacks were said to have taken place south of Myawaddy township in southeastern Karen state, where ethnic armed groups have long been fighting for autonomy and have been providing training and support to civilian militias established to fight back against the February 2021 coup.

Myanmar Witness geolocated the two videos and said they were filmed just 200 metres from the Thailand-Myanmar border. It also verified an incident in February 2022, when at least one Yak-130 was identified taking part in an operation west of Loikaw, in Kayah state, also on the Thai border in the east.

“The indiscriminate employment of sophisticated attack aircraft, particularly when employed in coordination with other military aircraft, is in stark contrast to the means and methods employed by those groups who are viewed as insurgents by the Myanmar military,” the report said.

Myanmar was plunged into crisis in February 2021 when army chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. The coup prompted mass protests and an outpouring of anger to which the military has responded with force. More than 2,000 people have been killed in the crackdown, while nearly 700,000 have been forced to flee their homes, according to the United Nations.

Russia is a crucial supplier of weapons and equipment to the Myanmar military and Min Aung Hlaing was in Moscow earlier this month in pursuit of further deals. Russia delivered 14 aircraft to Myanmar between 2015 and 2019, when it was under a civilian administration, but in December last year six more jets were unveiled at the Meiktila air force base, Myanmar Witness said.

In March, the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom blacklisted senior military officials, including the newly appointed chief of the air force, over the military’s escalating violence. The sanctions also targeted those sourcing and supplying weapons to the air force.

Rights groups have been pressing the international community to widen sanctions and impose an embargo on sales of jet fuel to Myanmar because of the military’s repeated air attacks on civilian populations. Myanmar has to import all its aviation fuel whether for civilian or military purposes.

Killed in Thousands By Russian & Chinese Fighter Jets

By December 15, according to the Burmese opposition government NUG, Russian and Chinese fighter jets attacked civilian targets in Burma at least 268 times in 2021 - 22. One such air attack on a primary school in Sagaing Division killed many civilians including twelve children.

Also during another air-raid in last November in Kachin State at least 62 civilians including the musicians and singers were killed by indiscriminate bombing of an open-air concert. Another 40 children were killed when their Buddhist-Monastery-Orphanage in Shan State was rocketed and bombed to the ground.

According the aviation experts the notorious fighter jets used by the Myanmar Air Force are Russian-made Yak-130 fighter jets supplied by the Russian Dictator Putin. Myanmar Air Force used to have 14 Yak-130 fighter jets, serially labelled 18-01 to 18-14, but now has 20 Yak-130s as six new planes (18-15 to 18-20) given by Russia joined the service in December 2021.

Yak-130 or Yakovlev Yak-130 is the world's most heavily armed light attack jet fighter nicknamed Mitten by the NATO. The Yak-130 is a subsonic two-seater advanced jet trainer and light combat aircraft originally developed by Yakovlev and Aermacchi. It has also been marketed as a potential light attack aircraft and in 2010 the aircraft entered service with the Russian Air Force.

It can perform light-attacks and reconnaissance duties and carry a combat load of 3,000 kg (6,600 lb). Its weapon capabilities are: SNPU-130 gun pods, 80mm S-8 rocket, S-25 rocket, R-73 infrared-homing air-to-air missiles, and FAB-M62, ZB-500, KAB-500Kr bombs.

Before the recent arrival of Russian Yak-130s Myanmar Air Force was using Chinese-made K-8 light attack and trainer jets which can carry a combat load of less than 1,000 kg including 4 unguided rockets.

The Hongdu JL-8 (Nanchang JL-8), also known as the Karakorum-8 or K-8 for short, is a two-seater intermediate jet trainer and a light attack aircraft designed in China by China Nanchang Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation. The primary contractor is the Hongdu Aviation Industry Corporation.

In late December 2012 and early January 2013, during the Kachin conflict, K-8s of the Myanmar Air Force were used to strike Kachin Independence Army positions in the north of the country and inflicting thousands of civilian deaths.

Domestic media are reporting that Russian dictator Putin is also supplying latest Sukhoi-30 fighter jets to Myanmar dictator Min Aung Hlaing. Two Sukhoi-30 out of reported six planes promised had arrived in Myanmar last March and are now reportedly being used in air raids in Karen State by the Thai border. Lay-kay-kaw New Town on the Thai border was bombed and rocketed to the ground by those newly-arrived Sukhoi-30s last month.

The indiscriminate aerial-slaughters of tens of thousands of Burmese civilians are causing at-least one million Burmese to flee their homes and becoming IDPs and desperate refugees inside their own country.