Russia uses Wagner fighter jets to support military operations in Ukraine.

APA reports that the statement came from the intelligence service of the British Defense Ministry.

Ukrainian forces reportedly shot down a Russian Su-25 fighter jet on June 17 and captured the pilot shortly afterwards.

The pilot admitted that he was a former major of the Russian Air Force, worked for the Wagner military company and flew several flights during the conflict.

"The fact that Wagner's contractors and retired personnel are carrying out close air support missions shows that the Russian Air Force is likely to have difficulty supporting the attack on Ukraine with a sufficient number of aircraft."

This is most likely due to the combination of a small number of well-trained Russian personnel and combat losses.

The Russian pilot reportedly used commercial GPS devices, not Russian military navigation equipment, to carry out his missions.

"This is likely to indicate that Wagner aircraft are older models of the Su-25 and that the Russian Air Force has not provided Wagner with state-of-the-art avionics equipment," British intelligence said.