[2] After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the reborn Russian armed forces began to be created on 7 May 1992 following Boris Yeltsin's creation of the Ministry of Defence.

It began as one of the earliest military aviation units globally, although its early years saw slow development due to the constraints of World War I.

[citation needed] During the interwar period, the Soviet Union made significant advancements in aviation technology and pilot training.

Soviet pilots flew legendary aircraft like the Yakovlev Yak-3 and Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik, which were crucial in gaining air superiority.

[8] General Kornukov established the new headquarters of the force in Zarya, near Balashikha, 20 km east of the center of Moscow, in the former PVO central command post, where the CIS common air defense system is directed from.

In December 2003 the aviation assets of the Russian Ground Forces—mostly helicopters—were transferred to the VVS, following the shooting down of a Mi-26 helicopter in Chechnya on 19 August 2002 that claimed 19 lives.

[12] Patrols towards the North Pole, the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean were reinstated, bringing the planes often close to NATO territory, including in one instance flying over the Irish Sea between the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The 2008 Russian military reforms were promptly announced following the war, which according to Western experts were intended to address many inadequacies discovered as a result.

[14] Aviation Week & Space Technology confirmed that the reorganization would be completed by December 2009 and would see a 40 percent reduction in aircrew numbers.

On 5 June 2009, the Chief of the General Staff, Nikolai Makarov said of the VVS that "They can run bombing missions only in the daytime with the sun shining, but they miss their targets anyway".

[18] Also in September 2009, it was reported that an East European network of the Joint CIS Air Defense System was to be set up by Russia and Belarus.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that the plane crashed on 6 August 2010, 60  km to the north-west of Step air base in Siberia, according to RIA Novosti.

[22] In February 2014, during the early periods of Russia's annexation of Crimea, the assets of the VVS in the Southern Military District were activated and flown to the peninsula for supporting the rest of the operations.

[24] On 24 November 2015, during a bombing mission, a Turkish Air Force F-16 shot down a Russian Sukhoi Su-24 that Turkey claimed had violated its airspace.

[25][26] In March 2020, the indiscriminate bombing of civilian targets by the VVS in Syria has been described as "amounting to war crime" by a United Nations Human Rights Council report.

[27] On 9 November 2020, a Russian Mil Mi-24 attack helicopter was shot down mistakenly by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war killing 2 crew members and injuring 1 more.

On 25 February 2022, Ukrainian forces reportedly destroyed several aircraft and set a Russian airbase on fire in the Millerovo air base attack.

[32] On 13 March 2022, Russian forces launched cruise missile attacks on Yavoriv military base near the Polish border.

An American intelligence analyst said that less than 40% of the 2,154 missiles fired by Russia hit their targets, such as the Zatoka bridge which sustained over eight air attacks before being disabled.

The VVS reportedly flew over 20,000 sorties in the war, fewer than 3,000 of which entered Ukrainian airspace, possibly due to fear of Ukraine's sustained air defense.

The large-scale coordinated attacks also hit Kharkiv, Kryvyi Rih, Lviv, Dnipro, Ternopil, Kremenchuk, Khmelnytskyi, and Zhytomyr.

The oblasts of Kyiv, Khmelnytskyi, Lviv, Dnipropetrovsk, Vinnytsia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zaporizhzhia, Sumy, Kharkiv, Zhytormyr, Kirovohrad were attacked on this day.

[48] When, by 17 October, these energy infrastructure attacks continued unabated the western media labeled the delivery system "kamikaze drones", and Ukrainian president Zelensky called this "terrorizing the civilian population".

These glide kits greatly increase range and also add an element of guidance, allowing Russian bombers, namely the Su-34, to execute aerial attacks from safer distances without entering areas covered by Ukrainian air defense systems.

[52] On 23 - 24 June 2023 the state-funded private military company Wagner Group rebelled against the Russian government citing increased tensions with Ministry of Defence leaders.

[53] Reports indicated that the Russian Armed Forces were failing to stop Wagner's momentum toward Moscow when a political resolution to the rebellion was announced.

[56] The U.K. Defense Intelligence reported that the Il-22M was a particularly high value asset, being one in a fleet of only 12 special mission aircraft, and that its loss could have an impact on the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Helicopter regiments providing support to the Ground Forces include the 39th, 55th, granted Guards status after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the 112th, 319th, 332nd, 337th, 440th, and the 487th.

[88][89] The VVS inherited the ranks of the Soviet Union, although the insignia and uniform were slightly altered and the old Tsarist crown and double-headed eagle were re-introduced.