The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine informs that as a result of a successful complex special operation in cyberspace, it was possible to obtain a large volume of closed official documents from a structural unit of the Russian Ministry of Transport, the Federal Agency for Air Transport (Rosaviatsiya).

The Main Intelligence Agency of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine said among the data obtained as a result of hacking and penetration into enemy information systems is a list of daily reports from Russian Federal Agency for Air Transport throughout Russia for more than a year and a half.

"Their analysis shows that the civil aviation sector of terrorist Russia is on the verge of collapse," the agency said in the statement.

Ukrainian intelligence also published the documents received and pointed out a number of important facts about Russian Federal Agency for Air Transport. In particular, in January 2023, some 185 aircraft accidents were recorded in Russian civil aviation. About a third are classified as incidents of varying severity levels. The leader here was the Russian short-haul aircraft "superjet" – 34 problem cases.

In the first nine months of 2023, some 150 cases of technical malfunctions of aircraft were documented in Russia. Over the same period in 2022, some 50 such incidents were recorded. Consequently, the risk of flying in Russia has tripled. The most problematic areas of Russian aviation remain engines and landing gear, as well as other important elements of the hydraulic system, flaps and software.

Intelligence said Russia is experiencing serious difficulties in servicing aircraft with long flight hours. Due to a lack of capacity and specialists, Moscow is trying to redirect aircraft maintenance to Iran.

"An acute shortage of spare parts has led to the so-called 'aircraft cannibalism' in Russia, when some aircraft are dismantled for repairs of others. According to the assessment of available data, by mid-2023, more than 35% of aircraft in Russia were used for 'donation," the agency said.

In addition, most Soviet An-2 aircraft today cannot get off the ground, since the engines for them were produced in Poland, but due to sanctions their supply was stopped. Also, during January 2023 alone, some 19 different failures were recorded among 220 Airbus aircraft located in Russia. In particular, 17 cases of smoke were recorded in nine aircraft used by Aeroflot.

Of the 230 Boeing aircraft used in Russia, 33 technical failures of certain aircraft systems have been recorded.

"Back in September 2022, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) designated Russia in red along with Liberia and Bhutan, which indicates an extremely high risk to flight safety," the agency said.

As the intelligence service said an analysis of the nature of aviation incidents based on the documents received shows that a number of failures, especially those related to engines, landing gear and wing mechanization, are systemic in nature.

"The corresponding reality is a direct consequence of sanctions, the most painful of which for the aggressor state of Russia were: a ban on the supply of aircraft and spare parts for them; a complete refusal to provide maintenance and services; a refusal to update software; the detention of Russian aircraft abroad; restriction of access to meteorological information for air navigation," the Main Intelligence Agency said.