The New York Times publication writes that Russia has decided to move the war against Ukraine into the airspace, but so far, it notes colossal defeats.
Russian army changes its tactics
As the journalists note, the air forces of both Russia and Ukraine played second fiddle on the battlefield.
However, the aggressor country decided to drastically change the situation at the front because the Russian Air Force significantly intensified the air war against the Armed Forces.
The Russian army is increasingly using combat aircraft near the front line to drop powerful guided bombs on Ukrainian positions and clear the way for infantry.
Despite the fact that Russia's new tactics gave it the opportunity to capture Avdiivka, foreign analysts emphasize that this is still a very serious risk for the aggressor country.
Ukraine is currently winning the air war against Russia
Journalists draw attention to the fact that the Ukrainian army destroyed seven Russian Su-34 fighters in a matter of days, almost all of which were operating in the east of the country.
This happened just a few days after the A-50 long-range radar reconnaissance aircraft was shot down. According to Ukrainian officials, it was part of a series of successful strikes against the Russian Air Force in which Ukraine shot down 15 planes in a matter of days.
Foreign experts still could not understand how Ukraine managed to achieve such results.
The most common version consists in the deployment of Patriot air defence systems by Ukrainian soldiers directly near the front line.
The Russian losses probably were the result of "some relationship between the Russian aircraft being put in harm’s way," Ukraine’s intelligence gathering on the movements of Russian planes and the deployment of air-defense systems "to take them out", suggested the director of the Missile Defence Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies Tom Karako.
According to RUSI analysts, the losses of Russian crews amounted to about 160 people, which they described as a "serious loss of capabilities."
