Russia-Ukraine Crisis: Experts expected Russia to use its full air force against Ukraine and are at their wit's end seeing Russia's risk-averse behavior in the ongoing conflict.
Although Russia is increasing its attack on Ukraine, things are not going as predicted by US intelligence and this is what is making experts wonder what Russia has up its sleeve. A senior US defense official told Reuters that from the first six days after Russia's offensive against Ukraine, it appears that Russia is unwilling to take high risks with its own planes and pilots.
Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized a special military operation on Ukraine on 24 February. Analysts expected that the Russian army would immediately destroy the air defense of Ukraine.
In an article titled The Mysterious Case of the Missing Russian Air Force, a think-tank said it remains a mystery why Russia launched this massive military operation, but did not use its air force.
"These initial standoff attacks followed a pattern seen in many US-led interventions since the end of the Cold War. The logical and widely anticipated next step, as seen in nearly every military conflict since 1938, was It will be necessary for the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) to conduct a massive strike operation to destroy UkrAF,” the article said.
Rob Lee, a Russian military expert at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, told Reuters that many of Russia's actions are confusing. "There's a lot of things they're doing that's puzzling... because every day it happens there's a cost and there's an increased risk. And they're not doing it and for any realistic reason. It's really hard to explain," he said.
David Deptula, a retired US Air Force three-star general told Reuters that perhaps the Russians are now discovering they are not as good as they had believed. "Russians are finding that coordinating multi-domain operations is not easy," he said.