the Ukrainian Skies have become a Battleground as Russia's intensified its air assaults inflicting heavy casualties and destruction the recent attacks on Lviv and pava highlight the increasing threat posed by Russia's air power which has gained a significant advantage over the Ukrainian forces our next report get you more details this week has proven deadly for Ukraine with Russian forces escalating their Campaign Of Destruction Lviv is the latest Ukrainian City brutalized by Russian air power following closely on the felds of Bava where over 50 lives were lost in one of the deadliest strikes since the invasion began in February 2022 these attacks are more than mere displays of force they are targeted efforts to identify and exploit Ukraine's strategic vulnerabilities the Relentless barrage of missile and drone strikes marks a significant escalation in Russia's offensive occuring after a brief lull in activity Russia's renewed aggression is designed to demoralize Ukraine at a critical juncture as Ukrainian forces has struggled to hold the line against Russian advances in the donbas region the Precision and Persistence of these strikes despite International sanctions and Export controls suggest that Russia's longrange strike capabilities remain formidable Russia's dominance in the skies is becoming increasingly apparent while Ukraine's Air Force though small has managed to pack a punch and inflict damage on Russian forces it remains heavily outmatched the much anticipated arrival of F-16 fighter jets has yet to alter the battlefield Dynamics meanwhile Russia's Advanced combat aircraft including the s30 s34 and 235s continue to unleash Devastation on Ukrainian positions the introduction of High Precision Glide bombs by Russian Jets has been a game Cher these weapons deployed with lethal efficiency are breaching Ukraine's air defenses which have so far kept Russian aircraft from entering Ukrainian airspace the share of volume of these bombs reportedly dropped in the hundreds each day underscores Russia's tactical Ingenuity in circumventing Ukraine's defenses in contrast Ukraine has turned to drone War as a means of striking back albeit with limited impact Western hesitant to supply long-range Weaponry has forced Ukraine to rely on drones for attacks on Russian infrastructure while these strikes have caused disruptions they pale in comparison to the damage inflicted by Russia's Superior air power the war it seems is poised to become even more brutal as Russia tightens its grip on the skies bu report be on world one all right now to give us more perspective in terms of what is happening at this moment in the Ukrainian War theater we're being joined by Dr Nigel gold Davis who's a former British ambassador to belus thank you very much indeed Ambassador for joining us here in vion now let me in fact start off by asking you this in the course of the last 48 72 hours what we've witnessed is a sharp uptick in the number of aerial attacks that Russia has carried out in different parts of Ukraine what do you think is the Russian strategy here yes it's this is not new of course Russia has been doing this since the beginning of the war but it is a notable uptick and I think particularly significant is that Russia is again targeting cities in the very far west of Ukraine notably the historic city of Lviv uh which has been relatively unaffected uh by the war so it's uh once again a an effort to demoralize or try to demoralize uh Ukrainian population to uh continue this sort of attritional Relentless sense that uh the pain that can exert on uh Ukrainian population uh will not go away and also in some cases specifically ahead of the winter season to Target Ukraine's energy infrastructure which of course it will increasingly need as the temperatures begin to fall and also in the aftermark of the Kirks incursion that Ukraine has resorted to do you think there is an urgency on the part of the Russians to gain a more decisive advantage in the amount of land that they control yes I think that the uh the there are many battles taking place simultaneously uh in Ukraine and now with the kurus incursion in Russia as well there's the the air battle if you like not fought with planes but with missiles and drones there's a naval battle around uh Crimea as well where Ukraine has actually done remarkably well I would say and is continued to demonstrate its Ingenuity and then there's the the the battle on land and the story there is that Russia has in recent weeks been making slow gains uh along parts of the long front in the donbass and uh one of the objectives I think of the Ukrainian incursion into uh into Russian Sovereign territory in kurus was to try to get Russia to draw away some of its forces uh that are conducting that offensive what we've seen in fact is Russia going to Great Lengths to avoid doing that and Russia's response to Ukrainian incursion has been to pull in forces really from everywhere except kep its own offensive front in Ukraine and from murans up North even Vagner forces in in Africa have been pull back um to to try to defend Russian territory so the Ukrainian hope that its own daring uh and surprising offensive might halt the pressure that it faces in its own territory that yet has has not yet been realized all right we'll have to leave it there thank you very much indeed andas for joining us and getting us that perspective there for all the latest news download the Von app And subscribe to our YouTube channel