Ukraine is at Risk of Losing the War if Aid is not Provided by the US

Ukrainian soldiers of a mortar team in the 24th brigade are seen at positions near Toretsk, Ukraine, on Tuesday.  (Wolfgang Schwan/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Barros explained that the Russian military regularly conducts highly intensive bombing campaigns against Ukrainian infrastructure like dams, power plants and bridges using cruise missiles, hypersonic missiles and ballistic missiles sourced from Iran.

Though Ukraine does have some air defense systems provided by international allies like U.S. Patriot Missile systems, it does not have enough defenses to protect its interior infrastructure as well as its front line positions.

“The Russians have demonstrated in the last three months that they are adapting, they are implementing some lessons learned, and they are actually doing some military learning — which is improving the effectiveness and lethality of the Russian military,” Barros said.

“We think what the Russians have realized is that if they time and sequence their major strategic strikes against Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, at the same time in which they run fighter bomber aircraft to provide strike support, air support, for ground operations on the front line… they saturate the Ukrainians’ air defense bandwidth,” he added. “[Kyiv has] to pick and choose between, do they provide coverage to the frontline positions or do they protect the critical infrastructure in the major strategic cities?”

This photo taken from video released by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on March 13 shows the destruction of a Ukrainian Armed Forces helicopter at the jump site of an undisclosed location in the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

This strategy has enabled Russian pilots to run combat missions to get close to Ukraine to launch glide bombs, further obliterating Ukrainian positions.

Barros warned that if Russia is able to gain uncontested air superiority, Moscow could begin running carpet bombing campaigns like it has in Syria.

“Frankly, there’s no reason to doubt that the Russians would not do that,” he said.

Ukraine has largely been able to hold its positions on the front lines for months, but military experts agree that it will not be able to do so for long.

“Ukraine will lose this war if the United States does not continue supporting Ukraine,” Barros said.