Russia gains an advantage over Ukraine in the air war, because it

has a much larger air force and combat experience in Syria

.

Carpet bombing proved to be very effective there

, and Russian President

Vladimir Putin

seems

inclined to copy it in Ukraine

.

This opinion was expressed by Bloomberg,

former commander of NATO forces in Europe, Admiral James Stavridis

.

The Russian Air Force regularly

pulverized Syrian cities, dropping random "dumb bombs" (unguided) by the thousands

.

The new general

Serhiy Surovikin

, appointed to oversee the war in Ukraine, is the leader of the Russian Air Force and a man

known for his atrocities in Syria

. 

The strategy is simple:

destroy Ukraine's electricity grid and water distribution system to destroy the morale of the population

, literally pulling it out of their increasingly uninhabitable homes.

While Putin's stockpile of precision-guided missiles is rapidly depleting,

he still has plenty of unguided bombs

amassed

over decades

dating back to the Cold War.

Since he

doesn't care about collateral damage or civilian deaths, he will try to kill as many as possible from the sky

.

As the reality of his approach becomes clear, the

West should increase support for Ukrainian air defense forces

, Starvidis believes.

Leaders in NATO capitals are revisiting an idea abandoned at the beginning of the war:

to provide Ukraine with either Soviet-era MiG-29 fighters or even surplus US F-16s

, an easy-to-learn multi-role fighter. 

"Without such measures, the air war will continue to benefit Putin

," said James Stavridis.

We will remind, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg

called the only way to get the right conditions

for negotiations between Ukraine and Russia.

According to him, this is the advancement of Ukraine at the front.

Read also:

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  • "Ukraine mobilized the whole country, but Russia did not": an American general on the scenarios of the development of the war

  • Kuleba named the reason why some NATO countries do not transfer weapons to Ukraine: "We have to recognize this fact"